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Where is our Money ?

Residents Asked to Pay for What the Public Record Suggests Is Already Funded

A Mount Vernon proposal would charge taxpayers $85,546 for traffic improvements that developer escrow funds may already cover. Residents ask: where's our money?
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non-profit-city-call-cartoon

City Hall’s Private Charities

How Mount Vernon Officials Built Two Nonprofits to Fund Themselves with Your Money

Two city-employee-run nonprofits operate out of the same room in Mount Vernon City Hall. The Comptroller leads both — and approved $60,000 in federal funds to one of them. Public records reveal deep conflicts of
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gary-pretlow-assemblymember

We Met With Assemblyman Pretlow About Mount Vernon’s Fiscal Emergency

He supports state financial oversight — if the city council asks for it.

MVCIP met with Assemblyman Pretlow to discuss Mount Vernon's fiscal crisis. He supports state financial oversight — but the City Council must request it first.
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building-department-vegas

The Austerity Budget That Wasn’t

Mount Vernon is operating under what City officials describe as “austerity budget protocols.”

Mount Vernon officials approved $20,800 in conference travel, a Las Vegas junket for a Building Commissioner whose department is in shambles, and a portrait ceremony — all while claiming austerity.
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nys-financial-monitor

Mount Vernon Needs a State Financial Monitor – Now

Rising Costs, declining Capacity, and a Government that has lost Control of its Finances.

Rising taxes, declining services, and no bond rating — Mount Vernon's finances are in freefall. MVCIP explains why the State must appoint a financial monitor now.
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Property-tax-raise-2026 graphic

Mount Vernon City Property Taxes Are Rising By 5.47%

A chaotic process, shifting figures, and a breakdown of basic accountability.

In less than six minutes, Mount Vernon officials locked in a 5.47% property tax increase after weeks of chaos, shifting numbers, and sidelined residents. This piece documents how the City ignored its own rules -
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Drawing of Mount Vernon City Hall Sliding into the Abyss

Part 6: ARPA in Mount Vernon

How to Spend $41 Million in Federal Relief Funds and Still Be on the Precipice of Bankruptcy

By ARPA’s final year, accountability was missing. Millions were spent with minimal evidence of results, weak controls, and a recovery plan that never moved beyond paper.
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New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli

State Comptroller Confirms Years of Financial Failures in Mount Vernon

But DiNapoli Says Enforcement Power Is Limited

A December 2025 response from the State Comptroller confirms what residents have long suspected: Mount Vernon’s finances have been repeatedly flagged for serious problems, yet the State has limited power to force accountability.
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ARPA Graphic

Part 5: ARPA in Mount Vernon

When Direct Community Assistance Appeared, But Oversight Remained Hidden

By 2024, ARPA spending in Mount Vernon had become routine and opaque, with emergency declarations, vehicle purchases, and loosely monitored programs replacing any clear recovery strategy.
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Exterior House Dina Periello

The House Next Door

How Mount Vernon’s “nothing we can do” culture turned a historic home into collateral damage

Mount Vernon loves big speeches about “equity” and “revitalization.” But the paper trail at 214 Gramatan Avenue tells a different story: warnings ignored, approvals allegedly missing, and a city government that said “nothing can be
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