Routine audit finds violations of debt provisions in Welsh
WELSH— The town failed to comply with provisions of its own bond ordinance, according to a routine audit.
The findings were among those presented Tuesday by Kyle Judice of McElroy, Quirk and Burch in an annual review of the audit.
The findings have since been corrected but were not addressed prior to the issuance of the audit, according to Mayor Carolyn Louviere.
According to the findings, the town was not in compliance with several provisions of its own bond ordinance as adopted in March 2017. The ordinance required proceeds of the bonds to be deposited into several special accounts.
In a separate finding, the town also failed to comply with a special section of the tax compliance certificate requiring the town to deposit proceeds of the bonds into a special project fund.
“For most of the year the town did not have the required banking accounts open as required,” Judice said. “Before the year ended those accounts were open and fully funded.”
Both findings are considered a violation of debt provisions.
Mayor Carolyn Louviere said the town had bank accounts open for the bonds, but were required to open multiple accounts.
“The money was in the accounts, but we needed to open more accounts,” Louviere said.
The bonds were for a new garbage truck and the revolving clean water fund.
In repeated findings, the audit also noted a lack of segregation of duty and lack of adequate controls over financial reporting due to the size and limited number of accounting personnel.
Both findings are typical to small entities and are expected to continue, Judice said.