Here are some snippets from the management letter

Here are some snippets from the management letter.

"This lack of consistent, strong leadership has severely impacted the Town's ability to operate financially at an optimum level; and this has directly impacted most of the Town's critical financial function. ...In fact, the Town has had four Town Accountants, three Treasurer/Collectors and three Town Administrators since 2012." Management Letter p.3, Tony Roselli, CPA April 25, 2017.

 
"The 2013 and 2014 financial records had to be reconstructed almost completely from scratch....The Town was unaware of its appropriation balances due to the deficiency in its accounting records; this led to appropriation deficits totaling almost $800,000 over four years. ...The Town expended funds on a major school capital project without a borrowing due to the bonding issue described above. This has led to a $1.3 million DEFICIT in the project fund." Management Letter p.4, Tony Roselli, CPA April 25, 2017.


"CAPITAL PROJECTS have been mismanaged." Management Letter p.4, Tony Roselli, CPA April 25, 2017.

"Illegal interfund borrowings were used to fund annual operations in at least two years." Management Letter p.4, Tony Roselli, CPA April 25, 2017.


" Beginning in 2013 and continuing through fiscal year 2015, the process of budget monitoring was reckless and essentially nonexistent. In fact, the Town was unaware of these deficits until years later, especially for fiscal year 2013 and 2014 when the entire years' records were reconstructed." Management Letter p.9, Tony Roselli, CPA April 25, 2017.


" In addition, we determined that the budgets as recorded in the general ledger do not at all times match the Town Meeting votes, which served to only compound the challenges with monitoring the budget." Management Letter p.9, Tony Roselli, CPA April 25, 2017.


"Subsequent to year-end, it was determined that the Town Treasurer in those years had been using available cash from BAN proceed intended to fund capital projects. Additionally, we determined that cash forecasts had never been prepared by the Treasurer's Office; therefore, it was difficult for the Town to understand its cash flow requirements." Management Letter p.11, Tony Roselli, CPA April 25, 2017.


"THE TOWN HAS FAILED TERRIBLY IN MANAGING ITS CAPITAL PROJECTS AND CORRESPONDING FUNDING:"
Management Letter p13, Tony Roselli, CPA April 25, 2017.


" A separate article also related to the Elementary School authorized the remainder of the project costs around $47 million to be subsidized from available funds or borrowings. the Town, to date has spent approximately $2.5 million. Of this amount, nearly $1.3 million was subsidized by the MSBA; the remainder is a deficit of over $1.2 million." Management Letter p.13, Tony Roselli, CPA April 25, 2017.


"Since the Town allowed 4 years to lapse between audits, it had no access to the bond market; accordingly it used available cash. Since all cash was commingled, it is not clear which bucket of cash was used to fund the expenses. This is important to understand as only cash that can fund a capital project can be from the General Fund, Stabilization Fund or the capital project itself. This placed stress on the already precarious General Fund cash position, and if other funds such as Community Preservation or Sewer Betterments cash were used, THIS WOULD BE ILLEGAL." Management Letter p.14, Tony Roselli, CPA April 25, 2017.

"We do not believe the current Treasurer or anyone in the Treasurer's office have the skill set necessary to financially manage the LARGEST PROJECT IN THE TOWN'S HISTORY..." Management Letter p.14, Tony Roselli, CPA April 25, 2017.