In response to its FOIA requests, TOWN was furnished by the city's finance office with an alphabetized list of expenditures for the Genesee Theatre renovation, with data from December of 1999 through May of 2004. TOWN also obtained possession of a separate chronological list of these expenditures, a list that had been given by the city to a citizen pursuant to a prior FOIA. After spending many hours trying to analyze these financial records-after organizing the entries into spreadsheet form, highlighting apparent discrepancies, and consulting with a CPA-we remain confused and concerned about the breakdown of Genesee Theatre expenses.

There were numerous discrepancies between the alphabetized and chronological lists, with items being included in one and omitted in the other, or included in both but with different descriptions or amounts. The payments that were reportedly made to contractors or employees sometimes failed to match, and even when there was agreement on the amount of an expenditure, other questions often remained. For example, an expenditure of $248,520.48 (apparently taken initially from a HUD grant) was described on one list as being a payment of salaries, while on the other list, it was described as training expenses for the Friends of the Genesee. We could not help but wonder if this HUD grant could be used for salaries, and if not, whether funds were later shifted and records revised to correct a mistake.

We were also left wondering about how to make sense of the reported $8,000,000 overrun, as well as the projections that this project will end up costing $25,000,000 or more. On November 3, 2003, when the overrun was disclosed at a city council meeting, the total expenses listed in the city's summaries had just moved past the $8,000,000 level. As of May 2004, the end of the time period covered in the summaries that were furnished to us, the total expenses listed were approximately $13,659,489. Are there major expenses for this renovation project that are not reflected in the city's summaries, have the expenses almost doubled during the six months following May of 2004, or is the projected total cost of $25,000,000 or more grossly inaccurate?

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