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Nearly 30 local college students that were promised scholarship money through the Mount Vernon Mayor’s Educational Assistance Scholarship Program have not received the money they earned, according to a lohud report released on Friday.
The money is reportedly “in furlough” after the scholarships were awarded to the students at a ceremony earlier this year. The scholarships are overseen by the Mount Vernon Urban Renewal Agency, which came under fire in September when Mayor Richard Thomas reported that the agency had more than $6 million in “secret, undocumented” loans.
Earlier this year, the Department of Justice announced that it would be suing Mount Vernon and levying a “significant monetary penalty” for repeated violations of the Clean Water Act over the past 14 years. Thomas has also enlisted veteran law enforcement official Richard Frankel as a special counsel to commence an investigation into the records and operations of the Renewal Agency.
City officials in Mount Vernon have been at odds for months over a variety of issues, including misappropriated funds, temporary restraining orders, a luxury SUV and other political issues.
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