D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s administration spent more than $40 million on snow removal for a single major storm last year, hiring contractors at whatever price they named and paying nearly $700,000 for hotel rooms and meals for workers in violation of federal procurement law, according to an audit.
In addition, more than $93,000 of the cost came from bank fees because officials charged tens of millions of dollars for snow removal on city credit cards, sending the balance on the government’s account soaring to roughly 20 times its usual level.
JPMorgan Chase took the unprecedented step of shutting off the District’s line of credit until some of the card balances could be paid, as The Washington Post reported last year.
In a letter to D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), who requested the audit released Wednesday, D.C. Auditor Kathleen Patterson wrote that the costs, combined with the violation of federal rules, raise doubts about how much the federal government might reimburse the District under a federal disaster declaration that was issued by President Obama.
Click here to read the rest of the story written by Aaron C. Davis over at Washington Post