Money Controls Tighter After Alleged $850K Embezzlement

South Whitehall Township will establish new financial oversight committees and review its volunteer fire companies' fiscal statements.

The changes are among recommendations made by Buckno Lisicky & Co., the accounting firm hired to evaluate the township's internal controls following the alleged embezzlement of more than $850,000 from utility payments by two former township employees.

"It's the first time we're doing this," Township Manager Jon Hammer told the Board of Commissioners at its meeting last Wednesday. 

"We believe it's a necessary step for us moving forward and making sure all our township monies are being spent wisely." 

Nancy Tonkin, the township's longtime utility supervisor, and her husband, William Tonkin, a former township police officer, were charged in May with embezzling $850,000 from the utility funds over 13 years.

The report recommends the township created a three-member Budget and Finance Committee, to be staffed by two commissioners and Finance Director Lenore Horos, and a three-member Audit Committee, which would be staffed by two commissioners and either Hammer or Director of Administration Tony Ganguzza.

Cetronia, Greenawalds, Woodlawn and Tri-Cover fire companies were not suspected of any wrongdoing, Hammer said, rather the review of their financial statements were part of the new recommendations. The cost of the reviews were not to exceed $5,000 each.