Overdue Audits Now Current

Bernalillo’s mayor says herculean work by finance staffers has brought the town up to date on audit requirements that were years overdue.

Town finance director Juan Torres and his two staffers recently completed work on three years worth of audits, which examine the town’s finances, that have now been submitted to the Office of the State Auditor for review. Municipalities are supposed to submit the audits annually by Dec. 1 but Bernalillo was at least three years behind, said Mayor Jack Torres, who is not related to the finance director.

“I know Juan spent numerous nights and weekends going over things to make sure this was ready for auditors,” Jack Torres said.

Town staffers’ work is reviewed by the independent auditing firm Heinfeld, Meech & Co. The audits reflect progress on a financial comeback by the town administration, the mayor said.

Three years ago, the town of Bernalillo went over its own version of the fiscal cliff.

Audit figures from fiscal 2009 show the town spent $19.1 million, while revenues were only

$12.4 million, a $6.7 million discrepancy.

“Things just kept getting approved,” Juan Torres said. “Nobody was minding the store.”

Much of the money went on capital projects such as an arsenic removal system for the town’s water supply, which never worked properly, and road improvement projects for two key town streets, Camino del Pueblo and Camino Don Tomas.

The fiscal year that began July 1, 2008, and ended June 30, 2009, also saw the abrupt resignation of former town administrator Stephen Jerge amid questions about $45,000 in town-issued credit card expenses on dining, travel, hotels and gasoline. Jerge’s expense vouchers were signed off by former Mayor Patricia Chávez, who also signed off on her own vouchers.

The town was also out more than $200,000 because a trash fee hike introduced in 2008 was never included in customer bills.

Jack Torres defeated Chávez to win election as mayor in March 2010. Measures his administration took to put the town back on track included selling back $3.1 million in unspent bond money to lower interest payments and a hiring freeze on vacant positions, he said.

Juan Torres and Town Clerk Ida Fierro said Bernalillo’s administration has developed procedures to provide better scrutiny of spending to avoid problems in the future. The town plans to ask the State Auditor’s office for expertise on how to craft the revised procedures into formal policies, they said.