FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING – OCTOBER 26, 2009
A meeting convened at 7:30 PM in Town Hall.
Members in attendance: Bothwick, Croft, Herbster, Kenney, Martin, Putnam, and Sullivan
Others in attendance: Town Accountant, Town Administrator, Town Treasurer and the BOS
Mr. Bothwick presided.
CASH RECONCILIATION – The Town Administrator reported that Powers & Sullivan is doing a cash audit of FY’2008 without altering FY’ 2008. The general ledger cash discrepancy which will result in a need to reduce the Free Cash by the amount found in the audit. Powers & Sullivan is confident they will identify the discrepancy. The FinCom requests that identifying the problems be included in the scope of their work. The payroll could not be entered electronically into the general ledger. This systematic problem and has been solved. Any found difference will come out of the Free Cash of FY’09. The DOR will make a year end adjustment and the Town Accountant will make a FY’ 10 adjustment.
Questions were raised about commitments the School and Town have made if the cash audit of Powers & Sullivan causes any questions of the previous auditors, Melanson & Heath.
The Town Accountant indicated that reconciliation of July 2009 should be complete by the end of the week. He further indicated that August and September should be reconciled by the end of the next week.
The Town Administrator indicated that Powers & Sullivan can do a cash audit for 2008 and 2009.
The Treasure/Collector reported that bank statements are reconciled through September.
The Finance Committee wants to have the best practices identified, and would like a date as to when the audit will be complete.
They indicated that a separate firm would be able to get a quick grasp of the situation. The Town Administrator is not convinced the expenditure is necessary.
When considering closing the Town Treasurer window for ½ day to customer service, the Town Administrator suggested reconciliation before leaving for the day. The Town Treasurer reported that her office balances the cash daily.
The Town Administrator reports that the office of the Treasurer is appropriately staffed for the amount of business, in comparison to another Town.
The Town Administrator answered no to a question whether procedures are in place.
The Town Administrator indicated that responsibility needs to be taken for the outcomes. When questioned whether there may be a cultural/attitude problem, the Town Administrator indicated he was not comfortable going forward with a discussion about that. A member of the BOS questioned why a meeting of the BOS was not posted for this evening. The question was raised whether the meeting could go into Executive Session, and ask the Town Hall staff members to leave. The Town Administrator indicated that because no Town Hall staff performance issues have been raised this would not be appropriate. The BOS member indicated that in the future their preference would be to have meetings of this kind posted.
At their next meeting on November 17 the FinCom expects resolution procedures to be identified with a timeline and proposal.
SCHOOL – There is some short term borrowing that must be rolled over; some will be reimbursed by the state. In consideration of whether they should do some long term borrowing, they will request a schedule of cost and total sources from the Business Manager.
MINUTES – The minutes of 7/28/2009 were unanimously adopted as written.
The meeting adjourned at 8:49 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Judith Sabella
Clerk
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