SYRACUSE -- Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner revealed Friday that she has turned over evidence to the Onondaga County District Attorney's office to begin an investigation into alleged "theft of revenue" by the Murbro Parking Company. The business operates a number of parking facilities in Syracuse including two city-owned parking garages.
Miner says during a mid-year budget analysis the city realized the amount of revenue from Murbro was down around $400,000. The number raised a red flag, so an audit was ordered by the mayor.
The audit triggered an investigation by the Syracuse Police Department in December which found evidence of alleged theft. "There is evidence of theft of revenue from the City parking garages by Murbro." Miner told reporters.The mayor says there's no evidence of wrongdoing or kickbacks on the part of city employees. Miner says she has no idea how much money could have been taken from the taxpayers, nor how long the alleged fraud had been taking place.
Murbro operates the Madison-Irving parking garage, Harrison street parking garage and the former Sibley's garage. The owners of the company have not returned our calls for comment. Murbro's corporate offices on Harrison Street were locked. Inside your could see cluttered desks that appeared to have been recently deserted.
Mayor has ordered a full review of contractual arrangements with all parking garages in the city. "We are also working with our outside auditors to completely change and revamp our systems of internal controls to make sure this does not happen again." Miner said.
