Light and Water Vendor Checks

Light and Water Vendor Checks 

Email correspondence between the Town Accountant and the TMLWP GM with the Treasurer stuck in the middle.

Email from John Driscoll to Treasurer

From: J Driscoll [mailto:jdriscoll@templetonlight.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2014 11:26 AM
To: townadministrator@templeton1.org; Holly Young (hyoung@templeton1.org); treasurer@templeton1.org
Cc: Dana Blais (snowfighter4@verizon.net); Gregg Edwards; Chris Stewart
Subject: Light & Water Vendor Warrant Checks





Good Morning to All,

 

The TMLWP is looking into processing our own vendor warrant checks here at the TMLWP Office.  We have looked into the capability of our existing accounting/billing hardware and software managed by ASA Tire and the functionality exists.  What we would like to do is process our light and water vendor warrants (bi-weekly) into actual light and water checks on check paper with our larger, tractor-fed printer.  Once the checks are created we would then bring them into the Selectmen’s Office to be inspected by the Town Accountant and Town Treasurer to make sure these vendor checks agree with the vendor warrants and can ultimately be signed/stamped by the Treasurer.  We don’t anticipate this taking any longer than a few days, and after a period of time we would then retrieve our vendor warrant checks that now have the Treasurer’s signature/stamp.  This will accomplish a few things:



1.    First, it will take the burden off of the Selectmen’s Office of processing hundreds of extra vendor warrant checks for the TMLWP when they already have several other departments’ vendor warrant checks to handle.

2.    Second, in the absence of a replacement full-time administrative assistant in the Selectmen’s Office, this move by the TMLWP could delay the need for them to hire another new person in their office, at least temporarily.

3.    Third, the burden will be on the TMLWP to assure that all or our light and vendor warrant checks are not only processed on time but also mailed on time.  (Both the light and water budgets include funding for postage to mail our corresponding checks to vendors, so this should not be a Selectmen’s Office expense).  Should a mistake be made on the TMLWP side of this newer process it can be corrected internally with the respective light or water vendor in a timely fashion.



We are anticipating a “dry run” of this newer process on one of the upcoming regular warrant days (4/30, 5/14, 5/28, etc.) so we would like to let the Selectmen’s Office know exactly when, once we decide.  This way their office will be expecting to look over checks and warrants that have already been processed.  We think that this will be beneficial to both the TMLWP and the Selectmen; we will be managing more of our own financial affairs so the Town can free up their resources to manage their other town departments.



I would appreciate any feedback that anyone may have on this matter, preferably sooner than later, as we will be ordering up some light and water checks.



Thank you.







John M. Driscoll

General Manager



Templeton Municipal Light and Water Plant

86 Bridge Street, P.O. Box 20

Baldwinville, MA 01436

Phone            (978) 939-5323

Fax                 (978) 939-4309

Email from Treasurer to Accountant

From: treasurer [mailto:treasurer@templeton1.org]
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2014 11:32 AM
To: 'Matthew Angell, CPA JD'
Subject: FW: Light & Water Vendor Warrant Checks



Please see below!



Kate Myers

Acting Treasurer

Town of Templeton

ph: 978.939.4475

fax: 978.939.4065

Accountant response

From: "accountant@templeton1.org"
To: jdriscoll@templetonlight.com
Cc: townadministrator@templeton1.org, "hyoung@templeton1.org" , "treasurer@templeton1.org" , snowfighter4@verizon.net
Date: April 28, 2014 at 3:26 PM
Subject: Fwd: FW: Light & Water Vendor Warrant Checks
 

John,
I am unable to reply to all people on your e-mail list below, because I do not know their e-mail address. Therefore, please forward a copy of this e-mail to them.

I have reviewed your request (below) and determined that your proposal will not reduce processing at the Town, but will increase costs for rate payers. Here's why (in the same order as your request):

1. I am not convinced, because all treasury and accounting duties will remain at the same level. Currently, we process and audit invoice and payroll work. Your proposal still requires the same level of processing in the accounting system and auditing of the same amount of work.

2. I appreciation your concern regarding the Selectmen's Office staffing; however, that office's staffing has no bearing on processing and mailing invoices.

3. I'm not too concerned about the general fund appropriation as of yet; however, we are about to embark on determining a per-transaction cost to process payroll and vendor payments. So, we will be reaching out to you in the future on this issue.

What is not factored into your analysis is the added steps by your department (which relate to reduced productivity or increased cost). The added steps that would be required by your office are someone must pickup the checks from Town Hall, prepare the checks for mailing, and then mail the checks.

Because of the time difference between your e-mail send date and the first projected run, your office has already planned and purchased check stock, envelopes, and other supplies. I hope that I am wrong, because that would be an unnecessary expenditure. We're going to continue processing as we have always done before.

Let's steer away from this issue and talk about internal controls. I have just become aware that original bank statements are being sent to your office instead of the Treasurer's Office, where a photocopy is being sent to the Treasurer. This practice increases risk to the Treasurer, because she is not the holder of the original document. To verify the accuracy of the bank statement, she would have to contact the bank for another copy or go online to verify the balance. Your auditor should have picked up on this issue, as they should be coming to the Treasurer for copies of the original documents. But, I bet they are happy to have reviewed the original document held by your office. Our auditors will look negatively on this issue, as it increases their audit risk. So, we're going to have the statements mailed to the Treasurer and forward you copies. We will gladly open up our files to your auditors, and anyone who files a right-to-know request.

I also understand that your department may have access to wire funds from bank accounts. I am going to verify that this practice actually exists. If it does exist, then internal controls have broken down, because one person has control over disbursements in the general ledger, reconciliations of the general ledger, and control over wiring funds out of bank accounts. To fix this issue, if it exists, we will remove non-Treasurer personnel access to the bank account and all wired funds will be processed by the Treasurer.
 

Best regards,
 

Matt