PITTSBURGH — Thousands of documents requested by the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority were printed by the city of Pittsburgh using taxpayer money, Target 11 investigator Rick Earle reported.
City officials on Friday called the printing a waste of tax dollars, but something they were forced to do.
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Information about contracts, salaries and expenditures were requested by the ICA, the agency that oversees city spending and manages casino revenue, after the city filed a Right to Know request demanding similar information from the ICA.
"This is purely a matter harassment of the city by an oversight group that really should not exist," said Paul Leger, Pittsburgh's finance director.
Leger said it took workers several weeks to gather and copy the documents. It cost taxpayers $7,000 to supply the 35,000 pages.
City employees wheeled the documents from the city county building to the ICA offices in Oxford Centre Friday afternoon.
However, a sign on the door directed deliveries to Jones Day, the law firm that represents the ICA. Workers then hauled the boxes down Grant Street and left them with lawyers at the BNY Mellon building.
Leger said that while the city gave the ICA thousands of pages of information, the ICA only provided about 5 percent of what the city requested.
The dispute between the city and the ICA began when the city accused the agency of illegally withholding $20 million in gaming funds. A lawsuit demanding the release of the money was filed against the ICA by the city.
"This is a way to withhold the taxpayer's money and play a political game with the city of Pittsburgh for no purpose whatsoever," said Leger.
Late Friday afternoon, the ICA said it will review the documents and hope that it is an indication that the mayor will work with them.
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