Orange Declares Wymer Portfolio a $7-Million Loss : Finances: Council takes money off of its ledgers. Officials will still try to recover money apparently lost in investment scandal.

The City Council removed $7 million from its books Tuesday, money lost in an alleged investment fraud by Newport Beach money manager Steven D. Wymer.

Wymer has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges against him, including securities fraud. The investment scandal became public in December.

Orange was one of several cities that invested idle funds with Wymer. Orange officials term the $7 million it invested with Wymer as a “potential loss” and are trying, through the courts, to get some or all of the money returned. But the council’s action Tuesday officially took the money from the ledgers and treated it as a genuine loss.

The apparent loss of the money has caused political ripples in the city and considerable discussion among residents. However, the official removal of the $7 million from the city’s ledgers came without comments from residents at the City Council meeting or debate among council members.

The item was treated as a routine bookkeeping matter and originally was included on the council’s consent calendar. The consent calendar is a council’s method of passing, all at one time, a group of routine, non-controversial matters.

At the council meeting, however, Councilman Mike Spurgeon asked that the $7-million item be pulled from the consent calendar and voted on as a separate item. Spurgeon said that with so much money involved, the public deserved an explanation of what the action was all about.

City Finance Director Ted L. Schoettger then briefly discussed the proposed action, saying that the city would be clearing its books of the apparently lost money. “It’s an accounting convention, but when you have a loss of this nature, you record it,” Schoettger said. “So from now on, the records will show less this amount.”

Without debate, the council then voted 4-0 to approve the action.

The City Council on Tuesday also announced that it will be seeking a new firm of auditors, but city officials denied that this action had any connection with the investment loss.