The financial state of the Village of Owego

Dear Editor,

This is an open letter to the residents of the Village of Owego. In my daily conversations with residents, the most talked about subject right now is the financial condition of the Village. I also share their concern. Here is an update on the efforts by the Village Board and the Mayor to fix the problems we face on that front.

Since taking office as Mayor in April 2016 it has been the priority of this administration to put the Village finances in order. Bringing the past due financial state audits up to date and then putting a system in place to prevent falling behind in the future was the mission. As everyone is probably aware, having completed audits is extremely vital to any municipality, particularly one considered “financially stressed” like the Village of Owego. We have made some progress on the past due audits, but not as much as we should by this point. 

The process of how the audits are completed starts at the Village Clerk’s office. They maintain financial records and prepare financial reports. These records and reports are then given to the auditor (Insero and Co. CPA’s) for them to audit the records and reports given to them by the Clerk’s office. This should be done every single year in a timely fashion. These records and reports were not being completed and/or prepared for the auditors for the fiscal periods of (2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16).

To address the past due audits, I proposed, and the Board of Trustees approved, hiring professional part-time accounting staff to assist in the preparation of the financial reports necessary so that the auditors can complete their job. Jan Nolis, Certified Public Accountant, was hired and has been partially successful in preparing the overdue financial reports, and the auditor has completed three out of the five delinquent audits based on the financial reports prepared by Jan. The clerk’s office has had a mandate to assist Jan in any way possible.

Over the period in which Jan is currently working (fiscal period 2014-15 and 2015-16) to update the Village financial reports, she has encountered multiple delays in receiving basic bookkeeping documents: bank reconciliations, analysis of CDBG loans receivable, HUD loans receivable and New York State grants for the sewer project from the Clerk’s office. 

The auditor has encountered the same issues, which makes both Jan’s and the auditor’s job difficult. In addition, financial reports to the State Comptroller’s office have not been filed timely. Village funding depends upon these reports being filed in a timely fashion. The resistance to Jan’s efforts to collect needed information from the Clerk’s office staff has not only impeded the audits being brought up to date in a timely fashion but has also added unnecessary expense to the Village.

Due to my concerns over this urgent situation, and in consultation with the Village’s Commissioner of Finance, Ed Morton, we placed calls to the Attorney General’s office and the State Comptroller’s Office last week to relay our concerns and seek guidance. In response to this, the comptroller will be sending a team of investigators to examine the Village books within the next week. We hope that intervention by the State Comptroller will allow Jan to be able to complete her work so that the past due audits can finally be completed.

Sincerely,

Steve May

Village of Owego Mayor