By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CENTRAL PARK — The company that ran three city carousels, including one in Central Park, overcharged customers, kept sloppy records and sold dirty food, according to an audit released Friday by City Comptroller John Liu.
The merry-go-round contractor, New York One, was supposed to either pay the city a flat fee or a percentage of sales, whichever was higher.
But the company kept such poor records that it's impossible to know whether New York One paid the city what it actually owed in 2008 and 2009, according to a statement from Liu's office.
At the Central Park carousel, which Donald Trump took over last year, the Parks Department ordered New York One to stop food sales, but the vendor continued to use use a dirty popcorn machine and hot dog roller, the audit found.
Auditors also discovered that employees at the Central Park carousel "built a makeshift toilet in the Central Park carousel's mechanical room using buckets and a funnel."
New York One under-reported its take from special events at the Central Park carousel by at least $58,424, and when the vendor ran the Central Park carousel without a contract from January to September 2008, the Parks Department failed to collect up to $151,375 in operating fees from New York One, according to Liu's office.
New York One also operated carousels at Forest Park in Queens and the Flushing Meadows Corona Park carousel. Now the vendor only operates the Flushing Meadows Corona Park carousel.
