THE AUDIT
We are pleased to report that the 2025 audit has improved greatly over the last year. Are we where we need to be? No, but work is being done and progress is being made. According to the auditors, people are in place to do the hard work to report the facts and figures correctly going forward. We would like the citizens to know that A Better Oakland will continue to monitor the spending of your taxpayer money and will hold the leadership of our town accountable.
Cutting directly to the current issues, we must regain control of finances.
A MESSAGE TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND TOWN MANAGER
Based on the finding in this report, A Better Oakland requests the following actions from our Town Manager, Mayor and Board of Alderman:
1. Add an item to every Board of Aldermen meeting agenda to review the town financial statement including revenues into each fund, expenses out of each fund, and a review or the forecast vs. budget. Additionally, every record on the General Ledger and/or the Bank Statement that is irreconcilable must be addressed by the department head that incurred that expense.
2. Hire a forensic accountant to go through all fiscal year 23-24 records and fix those records properly. We need to know where we are financially, and how we got in the position we are in.
3. Establish written policies that follow the principles for public accounting IAW the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. At a minimum, it needs to include how Purchase Requisitions (PR) and Purchase Orders (PO) are handled. Who can submit a PR, who can approve a PR by dollar amount (Signature Authorization), Who can create a PO from an approved PR (Segregation of Duties), who can receive goods in (Segregation of Duties). Once this is complete, run an announcement in the Fayette Falcon that the city will no longer honor any invoices that do not reverence a valid PO going forward.
4. Quarterly audits of the town's books by an outside auditor until there is a clear pattern that Oakland complies and is maintaining that compliance.
5. A moratorium on all non-budgeted, discretionary expenditures until the town is back in compliance.
6. Publish quarterly financial reports on the town website for the public to review.
We feel that these steps, at a minimum, will greatly help to improve the trust between the citizens of Oakland, and their town's leadership team. Will you, Town Manager, Mayor and Aldermen, step up and accept these recommendations?
1. Add an item to every Board of Aldermen meeting agenda to review the town financial statement including revenues into each fund, expenses out of each fund, and a review or the forecast vs. budget. Additionally, every record on the General Ledger and/or the Bank Statement that is irreconcilable must be addressed by the department head that incurred that expense.
2. Hire a forensic accountant to go through all fiscal year 23-24 records and fix those records properly. We need to know where we are financially, and how we got in the position we are in.
3. Establish written policies that follow the principles for public accounting IAW the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. At a minimum, it needs to include how Purchase Requisitions (PR) and Purchase Orders (PO) are handled. Who can submit a PR, who can approve a PR by dollar amount (Signature Authorization), Who can create a PO from an approved PR (Segregation of Duties), who can receive goods in (Segregation of Duties). Once this is complete, run an announcement in the Fayette Falcon that the city will no longer honor any invoices that do not reverence a valid PO going forward.
4. Quarterly audits of the town's books by an outside auditor until there is a clear pattern that Oakland complies and is maintaining that compliance.
5. A moratorium on all non-budgeted, discretionary expenditures until the town is back in compliance.
6. Publish quarterly financial reports on the town website for the public to review.
We feel that these steps, at a minimum, will greatly help to improve the trust between the citizens of Oakland, and their town's leadership team. Will you, Town Manager, Mayor and Aldermen, step up and accept these recommendations?