Finance Committee Minutes 12-17-2024
Finance Committee Minutes 12-17-2024
RUTLAND TOWN SELECTBOARD COMMITTEE MEETING
FINANCE COMMITTEE
TUESDAY DECEMBER 17TH, 2024
The Finance Committees of the Rutland Town Selectboard met at 4:00 PM on Tuesday December 17th, 2024, at the Municipal Town Hall. Present was Selectboard Chair Mary Ashcroft, Selectboard Member Matt Getty, Town Clerk and Treasurer Kari Clark, and Town Auditor Andrew Simonds.
The committee met to discuss the draft audit.
Discussed the alternate compliance audit. The expenditure of federal funds greater than $750,000 in a year needed to meet certain requirements for this audit. The first was met by declaring the ARPA funds as lost revenue and using them for construction of the new Public Safety Building. The second was met because we used a bidding process for the project which was paid for with these funds.
There is a report which needs to be submitted to a federal clearing house. The approval of the full audit report by the Board should be done at the same time and then it can be sent.
There is a recommended adjustment for the senior’s account. It will be corrected going forward.
Reviewed the governance letter, and internal control reports. Discussed the deficiency, which has been the same as in the past, regarding the number of people overseeing cash controls. There is a note included that an additional full-time employee has been hired in the office. Asked for the procedures to be documented and their internal controls over cash functions. They need to determine if they have properly segregated the duties. This will be evaluated during the next audit.
Reviewed other recommendations included in the report.
Discussed the recommendation for additional policies. One is for disaster recovery / business continuity. Recommended a review of NEMRC controls and their disaster recovery testing. The other is an overarching accounting policy and procedure manual. Suggested having all employees take fraud prevention training.
The overall audit had a clean opinion.
Discussed how funds for the Police Department were raised, assigned, tracked and used.
Reviewed the enterprise funds.
There is $272,000 in the funds restricted to pay for long term debt. In fiscal year 26, these will be gone, paying the Center Rutland Fire Station bond. This bond will be paid off in 2033. Reviewed the balance and amounts needing to be paid for the next few years.
Discussed how the collection of delinquent taxes being accounted for as income. The method we use is appropriate.
The meeting adjourned at 5:44 PM.
Respectfully submitted, Bill Sweet