
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 12, 1990                   TAG: 9006120475
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE TO HIRE ACCOUNTANT FOR BINGO

Roanoke City Council voted Monday night to hire a full-time accountant to investigate and audit bingo operations as part of an effort to close illegal bingo parlors that do not give their profits to charitable or non-profit organizations.

Council appropriated $50,000 to cover the salary, fringe benefits and other costs for the job. The money will come from application and auditing fees for bingo operations.

Finance Director Joel Schlanger said the city needs someone full time not only to audit the books of all bingo operations but to ensure that they comply with the new regu- Plans for parking building downtown include condos. B3 lations approved recently by council.

Schlanger expects to fill the job within 30 to 60 days.

Councilman Howard Musser suggested it might be cheaper for the city to hire an independent auditing firm to check on bingo operations.

"Will there be sufficient work to keep one person busy?" he asked.

Schlanger said he has contacted auditing firms and determined that it would be cheaper for the city to hire its own accountant than to contract out the work.

Schlanger said there will be plenty of work to keep the auditor busy.

The new regulations require bingo operators to keep, in addition to a complete accounting of all receipts and disbursements, records for three years of the dates on which bingo is played, the number of people in attendance on each date and the amount of receipts and prizes for each date.

City officials have estimated that bingo operators may have grossed more than $10 million in the past year - nearly four times the $2.6 million that was reported.

But only a small amount of the money has been given to charities and non-profit organizations, according to Municipal Auditor William Brogan.

Some bingo operators have reported that their expenses were equal to or larger than their receipts.

Also Monday, council:

Authorized city officials to begin first-party billing for emergency rescue calls that involve the transportation of accident victims or patients to hospitals. Council gave informal approval to first-party billing during its recent budget study when it voted to provide an additional $164,000 to upgrade the emergency medical services program in the next fiscal year.

Under the new procedure, accident victims and patients will be responsible for the portion of the bill that is not covered by health or hospitalization insurance.

The fee for responding to a basic life-support call and transporting the victim to the hospital is $100. The fee for an advanced life-support call is $130.

by CNB