Did you read June 11, 2012 News & Tribune?
Well, it seems like the News & Tribune and City Controller Prestigiacomo only told part of the story.
Let's see what the LWG (London Witte Group) has to say about our city books:
"LWG reviewed the financial records of the city for three months of 2011 as well as the specific transactions listed in the findings. LWG found that the identified problem in timely reporting of each transaction was pervasive throughout the year. Additionally, the ultimate reporting of certain debt transactions was non-existent. Additional testing was NOT performed as the necessary financial information was NOT made available."
Indiana Code 5-13-6-1 (c) states that in the event that a bank balance is less than the balance reported in the accounting records of the city "then the responsible official or employee may be held personally responsible."
City Controller Mary Ann Prestigiacomo said: "many of the London Witte Group's recommendations have already been applied."
Oh really, Mrs. Prestigiacomo?
If this is true why did your mother (former controller) Kay Garry print out monthly financials for our Council from 2009-2011 and you can't?
Could it be that you and others have been instructed by the new Gahan administration NOT to release any financials?
Let's dig a little deeper in this audit report and see what else we find!
"The Council should require: monthly financial statements, listing of fund transfers, listing of debt payments, and related bank reconciliations with deposit and expenditure listings reconciled to the financial statements in order to fulfill the obligation to monitor the reporting of all financial transactions."
We never read the above statement in the News & Tribune article did you?
Summary of Recommendations:
1. The bank reconciliations discrepancies should be identified and eliminated. Either by the City staff or by LWG.
2. The council should review monthly bank reconciliations (which reconcile to the financial records of the city). In addition, the supporting information, such as a deposit listing, transfer listing, and expenditure report, should be included with the reconciliations.
3.The Council should receive and review and review a monthly budget to actual report.
4. The Council should review the policies and procedures in place for the City's financial reporting and compare them to the SBOA Accounting and Uniform Compliance Guidelines Manual for Cities and Towns. Weakness of deficiencies should be corrected.
5. The Council should consider developing its own specific written policies and procedures manual which accomplishes the goals of the SBOA Manual but increases efficiencies within the specifies of the Cities design.
6. The Council should review the annual CT AR-2 prior to submissions and compare it to the financial records of the City.
7. The Council should work with the city and consider changing the software system currently used to report the accounting records of the City in order to improve the financial reports and allow for proper monitoring of the control system.
8. The Council should address the inadequate oversight resulting from the delegation "of authority" to the Board of Public Works and Safety in a manner that allows for the Council to fulfill its duties and still promotes working efficiencies.
We never read these recommendations in the June 11, 2012 News & Tribune article did you?
We found some misleading (false) statements printed in the: New Albany gets oversight recommendations.
* "As for monthly financial summaries, Prestigiacomo agreed with Caesar that the city's computer software needs to be more "user friendly" in order to provide more succinct reports for the council."
It's amazing that our new city controller is blaming everything on the software. This is the same software that has printed out monthly financials for the last four years. Maybe we just need a "friendly" controller who knows what she is doing.
On second thought we need a CPA as controller it is apparent since 2000 the same controller made the same mistakes or was the instructions handed down to the controller from former mayors and the current mayor?
* "The board of works is a three person body and all the members are appointed by the council."That is totally false. The three person board is appointed by the Mayor NOT the council and it is also a paid board.
Could this be the reason Momma Grizzly (Garry) is back in the city controller's office or is it Momma Grizzly who also needs employee healthcare too?
Talk about killing two birds with one stone...
Our final thoughts:
It's time to take the power away from the Board of Works it has been nothing but a "slush fund" for every Mayor. BTW, did you know the Board of Works budget is about $6,000,000? What the Mayor couldn't get from the council they had the Board of Works to approve and pass.
It's our opinion the council needs to VOTE to replace our current city controller and turn the office over to a CPA from LWG.
It's also our opinion the local News & Tribune needs to print the facts instead of sugar coating or using selective information they print, the taxpayers have a right to know the whole truth.
