Much of the $10.22 Million from the AT&T Mobility Settlement has been Received

Ongoing Revenue Will Continue to Trickle Into the Police and Fire Pension Fund, with the Last Payment from the AT&T Mobility Settlement to be Received in July

Last week, Public Information Director Louise Whall clarified that a part of the AT&T Mobility settlement revenue slated to make up the $10.22 million to be contributed to the police/fire pension fund is still being collected and will continue to be collected through June 30, 2009.

In an email last week, Whall indicated the City of Springfield had already received the check for $6.125 million and it was applied directly to the pension fund. She also indicated the City already had the back taxes which were being held in an escrow account because they were paid by AT&T Mobility under protest. Whall said, those two amounts, plus the revenue still being collected through June 30, will equal the $10.22 million the City Council, past and present, has pledged to the pension fund.

In a later email, in response to my query for more detailed information, Whall indicated the taxes which were paid under protest and held in escrow had been released and had been deposited into the pension fund on May 18.

According to Whall, breaking down specific amounts held in escrow and the amounts received and expected to be received through ongoing sales taxes, through the month of June, cannot be disclosed due to restrictions under state statute.

"Under state statute, we cannot disclose individual gross-receipts tax paid by any single company," Whall wrote. "That information could be used to extrapolate overall revenues and therefore gets into disclosing proprietary information of private companies."

Whall wrote that by subtracting the lump sum payment of $6.125 million from the $10.22 million amount, one could get the figure which had been held in escrow, combined with what has been paid and is expected to be paid through June 30.

"We just haven't specified the number of months covered by each in order to comply with the statute," Whall added. "The "going forward" monthly payments have been deposited into the pension fund as they are received monthly. We expect to receive the final payment for the month of June in July."

Ongoing revenue, after the end of the City's fiscal year 2008-09, from telecommunications sales tax revenue streams has been proposed to hire 5 new firefighters in July and reopen the police academy with an eye toward hiring 10 new police officers.

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