Audit provides ‘clean’ opinion of town’s finances

WINSTED >> The latest audit of the town’s finances did not prompt the same level of concern as has been seen in recent years, according to Chris King of King, King and Associates.

King briefed the Board of Selectmen on the status of the audit this week.

“We’ve completed the audit. This is your first clean opinion, or unqualified, since 2011, or the first clean opinion that we’ve issued. So that’s a step forward,” said King. “Also, you may remember, that historically there’s been a long list of findings — auditor findings, control weaknesses, noncompliance with grant funds, and a long list of recommendations. Those are pretty much all gone. All that’s going to be left is a management letter with three comments.”

A clean opinion, King said, means one issued without qualifications — areas that auditors could not rule on due to a lack of available information.

Three comments are to be included in a management letter to the board, King said, which represents a lesser level of concern. These include an accounting manual for the Board of Education accounting practices, the assessor’s office, and the outsourcing of cafeteria management to EdAdvance, King said, and would likely be addressed in this fiscal year.

In past years, auditors have noted a series of issues with the town books, including undocumented spending by the Board of Education, missing and misappropriated town funds, and management of the school cafeteria fund.

The Water Sewer Commission, King said, is repaying a debt to the town it incurred as a result of the actions of Henry Centrella, which is adding to the town reserves.

Financial staff, he said, had been researching the status of assets owned by the town, the depreciation of those assets, and the history of some accounts in the town ledger as the audit process moved forward.

“It seems like the focus has been, instead of fighting today’s fire, things are under control and going back and looking at some of the historical data, and making sure that’s presented correctly,” said King. “There’s a lot less to talk about.”

King said that he would attend a future meeting of the Board of Selectmen to discuss the audit thoroughly. The latest Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) were recently posted to the town website, Stratford said Monday.

The net financial position of the town, according to the CAFR, increased by $672,336 in the last fiscal year, to $64.9 million.

The total town fund balance has reached more than $6.1 million.

Town Manager Robert Geiger proposed drawing approximately $635,000 from the fund balance as part of his latest budget for road repair, now that the amount of stored funds has reached 18.7 percent of expenditures.

The Torrington Board of Finance approved a general fund balance policy in May 2016 which recommended that the city hold seven to 10 percent of annual expenditures in reserve.