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Cheryl Dailey, a staff accountant for Beasley, Mitchell & Co., presented audit results from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, to the Village of Magdalena at their regular meeting on April 28.
She reported that the village received an unmodified opinion, the best possible opinion.
Dailey detailed the four audit findings: a late quarterly report submission to the Department of Finance (DFA), lack of internal controls over expenses, missing capital asset listing and improper expenditure approvals.
“During our test work on the credit card expenses, it was noted that the village has not provided months’ worth of credit card statements and supporting documentation to their accountant, causing the prepaid expenses to have a total balance of $27,251 as of June 30, 2024,” Dailey reported.
She recommended that the village implement a process to ensure that all the supporting documents for all expenditures are retained and readily available.
“The lack of proper approvals of expenditures. That’s a significant deficiency during our test work of expenditures, it was noted that 25 of 40 expenditures had the PO that was dated after the invoice date,” she said.
She said the asset listing has been a problem for several years and suggested that a policy be established designating one person to take care of it.
“We’ve had to actually build it the last couple of years, and we’re not 100% sure if it’s 100%. There could be things missing” Dailey said. “ I’m pretty sure we found it all. But still, there’s still that possibility, and we don’t want that to happen.”
She said none of the four findings were material enough to change the audit opinion.
Dailey’s recommendations included implementing better processes for documenting expenses, creating a capital asset tracking policy, and establishing written procedures for expenditure approvals.
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“When you’re dealing with public money, just always have that coverage,” Dailey said.
Quarterly report
Village Finance Officer, Michael Steininger reported on the quarterly financial report.
He said the overall cash balances were adequate, but had some concerns that revenues were not covering expenditures in some departments. He mentioned a need for budget adjustments in several departments.
“Fire protection had over half a million dollars, but that’s because the fire truck hadn’t been paid for yet. Now that the fire trucks have been paid for, Magdalena Fire only has $17,000 left. I’ll have to defer to the mayor as to whether that will be adequate to get through to June or not. It is low compared to historical levels.” Steininger said.
He reported that the water department was currently at 97% of expenses, and the wastewater was at 84%, which he said was a little high.
“ The concern I have is that there are only two-thirds on their revenues,” Steininger said, “You’re drawing down off of cash balances, which may or may not be sustainable in the long term.”
Rumpf reported that they had some unexpected expenditures.
“Additional money was spent for equipment, for the new fire truck, and we should be kind of adequate on funds until the next round comes in,” Rumpf said, “and then the wastewater, we’ve had some emergencies, expenditures on that. There will be revenue coming back in because people fail to call 811, and they’re going to be liable for the damage to the water system.”
ICIP
During the public hearing for the capital improvement plan (ICIP), Rumpf discussed several potential projects for the Senior Center, including a range hood, convection oven, van, bathroom remodel (already in progress), and a proposed west side addition.
The next Village meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Monday May 12.
