Poor Financial Record Keeping Limits Claypool Budget
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jordan Fouts-
During the first reading of the 2012 budget Monday – an overall amount of about $178,000, with nothing in the Rainy Day Fund – council members wondered aloud why it seemed so low. Clerk-Treasurer Arlene Leiter said she increased the numbers 3 percent from last year, minus RDF, then published the proposed amounts.
The problem, it emerged after some discussion and digging into old notes, was that the approximately $210,000 approved last year by the state Board of Accounts was nowhere near the $318,000 Claypool requested. Their financial books were too disorganized for the state to allow more, Council President Don Miller said.
“At our audit last year they said the condition the books were in was pretty bad. Some of the worst they’d seen,” Miller remarked. “There are outstanding issues that go back a number of years, and they weren’t able to do an adequate or complete audit.”
He clarified after the meeting that while money received and spent overall was tracked, spending by specific accounts was in disarray. It’s been a problem for the last two or three town clerks, he said.
Silver Lake Clerk-Treasurer Angie Glass has been restructuring Claypool’s old books for the past year. Claypool Councilman David Dills said Glass recently assured him the books would be finished soon.
Without corrected books, council members said the town has little hope of requesting budget numbers as high as last year’s request. Town attorney Mike Reed also cautioned that Claypool may have lowballed itself by publishing the proposed budget already, since they can decrease budget amounts at that point but not increase them.
Miller also noted that “obviously we’ve been operating at the funded level” from last year, though other action taken at the meeting shows how hard that level has been on the town.
The council approved the transfer of $25,000 from RDF into Motor Vehicles and Highways, which was $8,000 over budget after paying town employee salaries.
“I told council it was over budget and we had to cut, but the salaries were already there and I had to cover them,” Leiter said. “Twenty-seven thousand dollars (from MVH) went to just salaries, and this year isn’t over.”
The council agreed to get better numbers for next week’s meeting. The 2012 budget will have to be approved soon after that.[[In-content Ad]]
During the first reading of the 2012 budget Monday – an overall amount of about $178,000, with nothing in the Rainy Day Fund – council members wondered aloud why it seemed so low. Clerk-Treasurer Arlene Leiter said she increased the numbers 3 percent from last year, minus RDF, then published the proposed amounts.
The problem, it emerged after some discussion and digging into old notes, was that the approximately $210,000 approved last year by the state Board of Accounts was nowhere near the $318,000 Claypool requested. Their financial books were too disorganized for the state to allow more, Council President Don Miller said.
“At our audit last year they said the condition the books were in was pretty bad. Some of the worst they’d seen,” Miller remarked. “There are outstanding issues that go back a number of years, and they weren’t able to do an adequate or complete audit.”
He clarified after the meeting that while money received and spent overall was tracked, spending by specific accounts was in disarray. It’s been a problem for the last two or three town clerks, he said.
Silver Lake Clerk-Treasurer Angie Glass has been restructuring Claypool’s old books for the past year. Claypool Councilman David Dills said Glass recently assured him the books would be finished soon.
Without corrected books, council members said the town has little hope of requesting budget numbers as high as last year’s request. Town attorney Mike Reed also cautioned that Claypool may have lowballed itself by publishing the proposed budget already, since they can decrease budget amounts at that point but not increase them.
Miller also noted that “obviously we’ve been operating at the funded level” from last year, though other action taken at the meeting shows how hard that level has been on the town.
The council approved the transfer of $25,000 from RDF into Motor Vehicles and Highways, which was $8,000 over budget after paying town employee salaries.
“I told council it was over budget and we had to cut, but the salaries were already there and I had to cover them,” Leiter said. “Twenty-seven thousand dollars (from MVH) went to just salaries, and this year isn’t over.”
The council agreed to get better numbers for next week’s meeting. The 2012 budget will have to be approved soon after that.[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092