Issues with the city’s financial statements are causing a delay in presenting the proposed upcoming budget according to Mayor Steve Rosenthal.
City Clerk Lashanda Moore presented the figures to the city leaders at Monday night’s meeting; however, there were some noted discrepancies that held up a vote to approve.
Rosenthal asserted the concerns would have been found and addressed if the board had been receiving monthly financial reports.
He said, “Tonight, really all we can do is approve to advertise.” The aldermen voted to table the approval of the budget, but go ahead and submit the advertisement.
Rosenthal reasoned, “Without really knowing where we are, if we advertise two mils or less we will be within the margin that we can raise it, with the goal of not raising anything at all. But, if we don't advertise the two mils increase, then if we get into a problem that we haven't advertised it, we can’t raise it,” he said.
Rosenthal maintained that has not had adequate time to peruse the budget.
“I didn't see the budget until today. Normally, I would have spent 60 hours or better. I did not get it until this afternoon,” he said.
Added to the situation is the fact that the board has apparently not received any reports for quite some time, apparently even before Moore took over the position. So, Alderman Sam Brock asked if they were supposed to be getting monthly financials and Rosenthal affirmed that they are.
Attorney Gary Austin added that not getting the monthly statements could cause future trouble for the city.
One of the noted concerns fueling the delay seemingly involves a couple of transactions that amounted to over a $1.2 million inconsistency.
In addition, there appeared to be some question as to whether the city was over budget or under budget and by how much.
Moore, who took over the Clerk’s position in September of last year following the resignation of Interim Clerk Charlotte Kilgore, talked about at least two major tax transactions, one for over $800,000, that were in the system, but on hold and not posted.
“The money was on hold. It was in the system; I had been looking at the money in the system, but it had not been posted,” she said.
According to Rosenthal, the transactions happened in February and he insinuated that they should have been found before September.
“So we really don’t know where we are,” said Alderman Gary Fratesi.
During the dialogue as the mayor and city lawmakers discussed their dilemma, at one point Moore asserted, “If you don't tell me what you expect of me, then I don't know. You’ve not given me any job description,” she said.
Alderman Marvin Elder arose and stated that the aldermen had hired Moore knowing that she had never done that specific type of work before and surmised that since Rosenthal was in charge of day-to-day operations he should have let Moore know if something was not being done correctly and worked with her to get it straight.
He added that anything else regarding Moore or her performance should be addressed in an executive session and at that point Rosenthal announced they were moving on.
The city must have an approved budget by October 1.
In other business,
The aldermen also voted to hire the accounting firm of Brown & Ewing Co., PA of Ridgeland to perform an audit for fiscal years 2017 and 2018 at a cost of $40,000. Three firms were originally being considered and supposed to appear before the board to make a presentation, but in the end only one firm showed and it was also the only firm to bid on the job.
According to Rosenthal, $35,000 had been budgeted for the service; however Elder made the motion to go ahead at the quoted price and it passed unanimously. Fratesi was not present during that vote.
