Allenstown town audit spurs concern

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:33:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Several residents showed up at the Allenstown Board of Selectmen’s meeting Monday, April 7, hoping to discuss accounting errors found in the town’s 2006 audit, as well more recent errors detected by an independent consulting firm.

Selectmen decided to reserve the discussion on the accounting discrepancies for nonpublic session after reviewing the administrative assistant’s plan to correct t he errors.

According to the 2006 audit report dated Jan. 31, 2008, from t he town’s auditor, Plodzik and Sanderson, several errors had been made in balance transfers, some accounts had not been reconciled correctly, and the town’s preparation and review of financial statements was not in accordance with widely accepted accounting practices.

“The government-wide statement of net assets does not include all of the Town’s capital assets nor the accumulated depreciation on those assets; and the government-wide statement of activities does not include depreciation expense related to those assets. These amounts have not been determined because the Town has not inventoried all of its capital assets at historical cost,” the report states.

“Therefore, in our opinion, the financial statements referred to above (included in the report) do not present fairly the financial position of the government activities of the Town of Allenstown at December 31, 2006, and the changes in financial position thereof for the year then ended in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America,” the report goes on to say.

Kelley Collins, administrative assistant for the town since 2005, was on medical leave for more than three months following a skiing accident. During that time, said Selectman Tom Gilligan, other town employees took over her day-to-day duties.

It is still unclear who made the mistakes, Gilligan said, but Collins has developed a timeline to fix them and is updating the Board of Selectmen weekly on her progress.

An outside accounting firm, Municipal Resources, Inc., is working with the town to correct some of the mistakes after meeting with selectmen at their meeting March 17.

Municipal Resources Inc. made several recommendations which included setting up funds that were voted in the 2006 election that mistakenly slipped in under the radar, correcting errors in recording encumbrances and expenditures, and regularly reconciling the accounts.

Allenstown resident Pauline Boutin said she’s not sure whether Collins should remain in her position while the errors are still being looked at. “I came to find out whether they’ve taken any action,” Boutin said at the Town Hall on Monday, April 7.

The group of residents, including former Selectman Sandra McKenney, prepared a statement to present to the Board of Selectmen, outlining concerns surrounding the errors and the board’s disclosure of them.

“Because of these inadequacies, in 2007-2008 Allenstown has incurred additional expenses by hiring consultants from MRI, grant writing purposes and possibly legal services,” the statement reads, going on to say those costs should be deducted from Collins’ salary.

“We’ve never had a report like that,” said McKenney.

Allenstown town audit reveals errors

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:40:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

A recent review by an outside accountant uncovered errors in the town’s accounts, according to town officials.

After deficiencies were found in the fiscal year-end audits for 2005 and 2006, said Selectman Tom Gilligan, and the town’s administrative assistant being on medical leave for 14 weeks, the Board of Selectmen brought in CPA Carrol Coppola on March 13 to review the town’s accounts.

What she found were mistakes in data entry, typographical errors and several revolving funds from 2006 that were mistakenly never set up, Gilligan said.

The town’s administrative assistant, Kelly Collins, was on leave for 14 weeks after a skiing accident, and Gilligan said there were several people helping to fill her shoes, including a retired municipal worker from Hooksett, a secretary at the town hall and at least one town official.

“Those people all tried their best to help us, and we’re finding out in some cases they actually made several mistakes,” Gilligan said, adding he wants to ensure residents that none of the individuals involved are suspected of stealing at this point.

Town officials have come under fire before for financial manipulations, including the former police chief, James McGonigle, who embezzled thousands of dollars from the Allenstown Police Association.

“The Board of Selectmen does not suspect any wrongdoing or malice from any town employee. Everything is traceable, it’s just a matter of realigning expenditures,” Gilligan said.

“With the history we have in town, we take these matters extremely seriously. That’s always our first thought is to make sure there’s no improprieties,” he added.

Collins is now back at work, and has worked out a schedule and time line for when the problems that she can fix will be addressed and has listed the issues she will need outside help for, Gilligan said.

At this point, the town has not finished validating all the errors, Gilligan said, and has not determined whether any of the them were Collins’ fault.

The town is also working with the Local Government Center to institute better controls on the data entry, including more stringent password protection.

The town is under a spending freeze, Gilligan said, until all the numbers are cleared up.

Allenstown News : audit

Allenstown town audit spurs concern

Allenstown town audit reveals errors