statement on the BIA website<\/a>.<\/p>\nHamilton police and the city\u2019s auditor general are currently investigating, spokespeople from the police and city told CBC Hamilton.<\/p>\n
Lute, who owns bars The Argyle and Malarky, told CBC Hamilton the BIA\u2019s accountant recently alerted him to “discrepancies” in the organization’s finances. He said the rest of the board worked quickly to \u201csafeguard\u201d its accounts and revoke Carruth\u2019s access to the BIA building. They filed a police report the day after the emergency meeting, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve had full transparency towards all our members on the street,\u201d he told CBC Hamilton. \u201cThat was our main focus and then it’s handed over to the authorities, and now we follow their lead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carruth says he took money out of \u2018desperation and poor decisions\u2019<\/p>\n
Lute said he didn\u2019t know over what period the money was withdrawn, and declined to say how much was missing. Carruth said he believes it\u2019s about $16,300, and that he has been struggling personally, including with health challenges that affected his business, Down the Street Food Co., which closed in November.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn’t a lump-sum kind of thing,\u201d Carruth wrote in an email to CBC Hamilton on Thursday. \u201cI used funds over a period of time to keep my head above water personally. These funds were always meant to be returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were no trips, drugs, gambling, anything like that at all. It was simply desperation and poor decisions. I went into survival mode. I just handled it poorly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Carruth, 63, said he closed his business due to nerve damage in his back that makes him feel numb from the waist down when he stands for too long. He says a GoFundMe he recently started and then cancelled was intended to help him start a catering company, which would be easier for him to run given his medical issues.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, he says he is in a \u201cbattle\u201d with his former business landlord to get into the building so he can sell his restaurant equipment and pay back the BIA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am fully aware that my actions destroyed something I’ve really enjoyed doing for so many many years,\u201d he said, about his longtime involvement with the BIA. \u201cI’m not proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Missing money is more than 8 per cent of BIA\u2019s budget<\/p>\n
BIAs are designated areas within which all commercial and industrial properties pay a levy collected through their property taxes. The Ottawa Street BIA runs along Ottawa Street North between Main and Barton streets. The levy goes 100 per cent to the BIAs, who decide internally how the money is spent, explained city spokesperson James Berry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBIA initiatives are focused on enhancing their areas and attracting visitors and investment, typically through beautification, placemaking, events and marketing activities,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lute said that on Ottawa Street North, those activities include food truck festival Sew Hungry, an annual sidewalk sale, Halloween activities for children, and funds also for street beautification. He said he doesn\u2019t think those activities will be affected by the loss of the missing funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The BIA\u2019s approved budget for 2026 was $197,236, said Berry. If Carruth\u2019s estimate of the missing funds is correct, they add up to more than 8 per cent of the organization’s annual budget.<\/p>\n
Ward 3 Coun. Nrinder Nann, whose ward includes Ottawa Street North, called the news that there had been misuse of funds \u201ctruly concerning,\u201d saying that money was intended to promote the success of many local businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmall businesses are the backbone of our commercial corridors,\u201d she said in an email to CBC Hamilton. \u201cAny form of theft, including a coordinated and ongoing one, of valuable resources pooled to support BIA success would have a tremendous and negative impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ottawa Street BIA has promised it will share additional information \u201cwhen appropriate.\u201d Its next regular board meeting<\/a> is April 21. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-600865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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