An independent audit of financial records for the town of Oberlin continues to identify a list of concerns with account management, including unsolved issues from previous years, along with six new findings.

An 84-page audit conducted by certified public accountant Royce Scimemi alerted town officials, along with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office, to material weaknesses, deficiencies and noncompliance issues within the town’s financial practices, some dating back to 2009.

The audit report released Monday by the state revealed 24 infractions, 18 of which occurred in previous years including under former administrations.

Enough information was not available for Scimemi to properly audit the full financial statements of the town and provide a basis for an audit opinion on the financial statements as of June 30, 2022, according to the report.

“We were unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence about a significant number of revenues and expenditures because management was unable to provide it,” Scimemi said in issuing a disclaimer of opinions. “As result, adequate audit evidence necessary for us to express an opinion or provide any assurance on the opinion units was not available.”

Among the findings the town failed to reconcile the accounts receivable customer listing to the general ledger and lacked accurate records for customer meter deposits.

It was noted some accounts were not being paid in full or timely, and the customers, including employees and town officials, continue to receive service.

The auditor also found the town failed to file its sales tax returns and remit the sales tax collections on time. It further failed to assess penalties for those who were delinquent in paying their occupational license fees or property taxes; failed to remote its payroll taxes on time; failed to maintain accurate financial accounting records; failed to properly reconcile its interfund accounts and failed to maintain documentation for employee pay raises.

Six more findings were related to noncompliance with different requirements of the Local Government Budget Act.

The auditor found that the town has failed to submit its required quarterly affidavits to the Louisiana Board of Ethics in a timely manner since 2020.

It also failed to remit fees from court proceedings to the appropriate agencies, including the Louisiana Supreme Court ,as required by state law. Failure to report and remit court-specific fees increase the town’s risk of violation of state law.

In addition, the town did not consistently file accurate reports or pay accurate amounts to the Municipal Police Employees Retirement System to include compensation from the American Rescue Plan Act and state supplement pay, which is a violation of state law.

The town may also have violated the Louisiana Constitution when an employee used a town-owned backhoe for personal purposes at his personal residence without authorization from a town official. Another employee was instructed to bring the backhoe to the residence and do some work, according to the audit. Damages occurred to the backhoe.

The former mayor reprimanded the employee by suspending him for three days without pay.

The audit found the town may have also failed to comply with spending rules for American Rescue Plan Act funds, requirements for two dedicated sales taxes and convenants for water and sewer bonds.

In a repeated finding, the audit cited the town for lack of segregation of duties over its accounting functions due to a small staff. The town has determined it is not cost effective to achieve complete segregation of duties within the accounting department.

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The full report is available online at www.la.state.la.us.