HomeMy WebLinkAboutAudit Committee Minutes 07 23 2008_201402041939439439
Town of Nantucket
Audit Committee Meeting
Minutes – Audit Committee Meeting July 23, 2008
Present: Mr. James Kelly, Mr. Michael Kopko, Ms. Patricia Roggeveen, Mr. Malachy
Rice, and Ms. Constance Voges
Absent: Ms. Libby Gibson
Also present: Mr. Mark Abrahams, Mr. Rick Atherton, Ms. Irene Larivee, Mr. Whiting
Willauer, and Mr. Craig Abernathy
1. Announcements and Updates:
None.
2. Approval of Minutes:
Mr. Kelly made a motion to approve minutes from the meeting of July 9th, 2008.
The motion was seconded by Mr. Kopko.
3. Accomplishments since Meeting of July 9th, 2008.
Ms. Voges reported that the Town’s Treasurer, Ms. Weiner, has been providing a
weekly summary of cash reconciliations to the Town’s Controller, Mr. Dickinson. When
Ms. Voges last spoke with Mr. Dickinson, he stated that the first week of Fiscal Year
2009 had been reconciled and he was also working on the second week. In the process
of reconciling cash Mr. Dickinson is identifying and recording issues. The Finance
Department will use this information to find automated methods for resolution.
As an example of an issue encountered in the cash reconciliation process, Ms.
Voges stated the source of cash can affect a difference in time between when the cash
is recorded in the general ledger and when the cash is recorded in the bank account.
Her goal is to improve consistency for these types of recordings. Mr. Kopko asked if
there was an industry standard for this type of activity. Ms. Voges stated that she is
unaware of any such standard.
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Robin LaPiene began work in the Finance Department on July 21st, 2008. Ms.
Voges said Ms. LaPiene will be working with Mr. Dickinson on FY 2008 and FY 2009 cash
reconciliations.
Ms. Voges said that, although the recap would not be submitted until
September, the initial budget in MUNIS to the FY 2008 Recap has been completed. She
stated that Ms. Larivee continues to work on FY 2008 tasks as well as the 2010 budget.
Additionally, Ms. Voges said that the Schedule A for 2007 has been accepted by the
State. She also reminded the Committee that until recently the Schedule A had been a
responsibility of the auditors.
4. New Business
Powers and Sullivan submitted the FY 2007 Draft Audit late Friday evening. Ms.
Voges stated that she is about half‐way finished with her review of the audit. Mr. Kopko
asked how this audit fits in with the 2007 timeline. Ms. Voges replied that her office is
still on track to submit the audit to the State by August 15th, 2008. She stated that she
will be talking to Ms. Davis, Powers and Sullivan, about Federal Financials and the
Report to Management this week.
Mr. Atherton asked if there is a federal financial report for grants that would
provide detail on individual grants, such as the salary for the Transportation Planner.
Ms. Voges stated that the grant he was referring to is known as the “3C” grant. She said
that the Federal Financials is one report on all of the grants received by the Town.
Detail is only provided for grants that meet a certain criteria in size. She stated that
economic and planning development commissions have separate audits. This
arrangement makes it easier to complete audits as these agencies are smaller in size
than the municipalities to which they belong.
Mr. Atherton asked if the Nantucket Planning and Economic Development
Committee (NPEDC) are included in the Town Audit. Ms. Voges replied that they are a
Town department and they are not considered a separate agency. Mr. Atherton asked if
the Town budgets for the expenditures of the NPEDC. He also asked if their grant is
considered a revenue stream. Ms. Voges responded that the grant revenue and
expenditures do not appear in the general fund budget, but the NPEDC revenue and
expenditures do appear in the general fund budget. Mr. Atherton continued by asking
how expenditures are paid. Ms. Voges responded that everything goes through the
general ledger, but grants go into a fund that is composed of State and Federal grants.
Each grant is identified by a specific organization and object code. The Finance
Department then pays expenditures for bills and payroll just as they do for other
departments. Mr. Atherton, using Mike Burns (Transportation Planner) as an example,
asked how the Town is reimbursed for employees paid for by grants salaries. Ms. Voges
replied that the fund that contains the grant is charged for the individual amount of the
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salary. Mr. Atherton then asked how the expenses are paid during the current interim
period where some NPEDC grants are being withheld. Ms. Voges replied that in FY
2008, Article 6, funds were approved by voters to move directly into the NPEDC account
to pay for expenditures in the interim period.
5. Other Business
The Audit Committee discussed charges assessed by Bank of America.
Mr. Kopko asked Mr. Abrahams, Abrahams Group, to make a few comments in
regard to the study being conducted by his group. He stated that his group has
conducted approximately thirty to forty interviews to date. Most of these interviews
were initial interviews, but some follow‐up interviews were conducted. He stated that
his group expects to complete its initial findings within a couple of weeks.
Mr. Atherton inquired about the status of a letter from the Sheriff’s Office in
regard to inter‐agency accounts. He asked whether or not these issues are resolved
now that he FY 2007 Draft Audit has been submitted. Ms. Voges responded that one of
the “to do” items that remains on her list is to complete the County journal entries for
FY 2007. The unaudited fund balances were contained in a letter that went to the State
in March. Currently, there is only the matter of making the journal entries to reflect the
fund balances as they were approved. Those fund balances and the methods of arriving
at them will be provided to the Sheriff Bretschneider when the FY 2007 Audit is
completed. Mr. Atherton asked if the Sheriff agreed with the balances, and Ms. Voges
stated that she believed that he did agree. Ms. Larivee stated that he asked for the
balances in late May. She said that she advised him that it would be better to wait a bit
longer for the final numbers from the FY 2007 Audit. Mr. Atherton then asked if Sheriff
Bretschneider agreed to the entries from FY 2006. Ms. Larivee responded that he still
wants to dispute some of the figures from earlier years. Mr. Atherton asked about
some kind of action or resolution from the Audit Committee. Ms. Voges said that she
will present the FY 2007 Audit to the Sheriff. Mr. Atherton stated that it was very
important to get the issue “signed off” or else the Town could expect the issues to go on
forever. Ms. Roggeveen asked that this item be placed on the agenda for the next
meeting, and Mr. Rice asked that the item be referred to a later agenda in order to
focus on completion of the FY 2007 Audit. Ms. Roggeveen agreed.
Mr. Kelly asked about an updated letter to the Department of Revenue due on
August 15th, 2008. Mr. Rice responded that the FY 2007 Audit is due on August 15th, but
no correspondence with the Department of Revenue will be due until September 5th,
2008. That correspondence will outline a work plan for the FY 2008 Audit. Mr. Kopko
asked about a deadline for the completion of the FY 2008 Audit, and Ms. Voges
responded that it has a deadline of March 15th, 2009. Mr. Atherton asked about any
responses to the Management Letter. Ms. Voges said she would have to make a
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judgment about how to much time to devote to these responses. She stated that
everything the Town is doing is in response to the Management Letter.
Mr. Atherton asked if the funds that Sheriff Bretschneider had appropriated for
the Public Safety Facility are separated from the Sheriff’s funds. Ms. Voges responded
that the funds are out of his books and are now in the name of the Town. Mr. Rice
stated that the total amount of funding is $3.3 million. One million is appropriated for a
central dispatch for the Town to spend. These funds will not revert to any other
organization. The remaining amount, $2.3 million, is a three year grant. In 2011, the
County Commissioners or the Board of Selectmen can decide whether or not that
amount will revert to the County. Mr. Atherton asked if the original amount was $4
million, and Mr. Kopko responded that there had been an issue with projected funds.
Ms. Voges went on to explain that the Sheriff had proposed figures based upon
projected bank balances for the end of FY 2008, but in the end the County required him
to use the unobligated fund balances at the end of FY 2007. She also stated that the
Sheriff based some of his information upon balances in his bank accounts that still had
outstanding encumbrances. This led to a difference between the projected amount and
the actual amount of the Public Safety Grants.
6. Date of Next Meeting:
Ms. Roggeveen proposed that the next meeting should take place on Wednesday,
August 13th, 2008. The meeting to follow the meeting of August 13th was tentatively
scheduled for September 3rd, 2008.
7. Adjournment
Ms. Roggeveen asked for a motion to adjourn which was “so moved” by Mr. Kelly.
Prepared by Craig Abernathy
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