Agenda - Council - 05/28/1985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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' 'Aud. it.or detects ! unfinished work in. city .finances I I I I I I I I I I I I I I ! Mar)' Ellen Xlas . A visit from the city's auditor last. week revealed a few things that have fallen through the cracks in the past year, particularly sincb the city ad- mirdstrat~r and city clerk left city hall. Gary Groan, of Abdo, At>do and Eick, Certified Public Accountants, told the city council during its April 22 meeting about debts not col- lected, certificates never issued, financial data which went un- document~ and a computer system which was underused. Groen's Bloomington-based firm was hired by the council to audit the city's 1954-85 financial records and althodgh the audit is not completed,' Groan.said he .wanted to let the council kno, w of the problems right away. , ° He added that many of the pro- 't . An-application whs not completed blems have already been addressed 'uto have ~the city reimbursed for its by Ac~tlng City Administrator Orvil Johnson~ He was quick to add, - costs for the new bridge being built however, that many of the problems between Elk, River and Otsego fell through the cracks as a result of .. To...w. ns~p. * .... former City A~lmlrdstrator Bob" - 'l'ne c~ty has paid r~55,000 to date Middaugh resigning in February for the costs which were to be reim- and former clerk/treasurer Phyllic. Boedigheimer resigning in March. "Any time anybody's going to lear9. and Elk River has had its share of that, there's bound to be thihgs that don't get done,.'· he said. "It's difficult when a lot 'of 'background information walks out the door." The problems Groan cited include: · Certificates of indebtedness were never issued by the city to finance · public safety and street equipment, totalUng $60,000. ' 'The equipment was pUrchased and taxes were levied in the fall of 1984 to pay for the certificates. Groan said, '~o the certlfica~es should have been i~sued a year ago. Johnson said he is now in the pro- cass of having the certificates issued. Since the money the city levied has not been used to pa)' for the certificates, Groan said the Min- nesota Department of Revenue may be concerned that Elk River levied more than it needed to pay for them. · The city has not billed surroun- ding townships for fire contracts they have with the city for 1983 and 1984, an amount which totals ap- proximately $40,000, Groen said. The fire department has billed and been paid for individual runs but the city has not collected the retainer fee which the townships must pay. Johnson said he is working on sen:, ding the toEnships the bills with a' letter a~bologlzing for t.l~e delay. ',. bursed by Municipal' State Aid funds. Groen said. But no applica- tion was made for' the funds until Johnson completed it recently. 'To further conkise the issue, Johnson has not been able to find any documentation as to how much the city has committed to spend on the bridge. According to a 1983 agreement between the city and Wright Coun- ty,:the city has agreed to pay half of the' costs for preliminary engineer- , lng, final engineering and design work but not for construction work, · City continued to page 4