John Lynch Photo/Peter Carr The Journal News
“The town has hired a CPA to balance its books at a time when its supervisor and other officials await trial on financial corruption charges.
John W. Lynch, 61, was hired on July 18 at a yearly salary of $140,000, according to the town’s personnel department. He becomes the first person in eight years to hold the position.
According to the town, Lynch has a master’s of business administration from Pace University and is a certified public accountant. He has 25 years of financial experience in the private sector, and previously worked at Ernst & Young, Rudolf Wolff & Co., and more recently abroad in India for Paracor.
Ramapo had been operating without a financial director since Illan Schoenberger, now a Democratic Rockland County legislator representing Wesley Hills, resigned in March 2008. Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence, along with deputy finance director Nathan Oberman, have primarily managed the town’s finances since Schoenberger left.
Lynch now manages all aspects of the town’s finances, including the budget, bills, payroll and audits, among other things.
Lynch had no comment about “what’s happened in the past” in Ramapo, but he said, “I am focusing on today, and on the future and that’s where attention has to be.”
Deborah Munitz, a resident affiliated with several community organizations, said she was not familiar with Lynch, but the town’s decision to hire a finance director to take over for St. Lawrence “had to happen” after all the charges against him.
“It was just a matter of when, not a matter of why,” Munitz said.
Munitz added the hiring meant there was at least a chance the town was finally improving.
“If somebody else is willing to put their reputation on the line, hopefully it will cause the arrow to move in the right direction,” she said.
Lynch’s hiring comes months after town officials were indicted on federal corruption charges related to town finances.”
Read the complete Journal News story here.