CLAYPOOL – Claypool Town Council passed the 2013 budget and accepted the resignation of the clerk-treasurer Monday.
The town has a budget of $228,164 for next year, which includes $160,000 in the general fund and $52,000 in motor vehicle highway. Local roads and streets is allotted $10,000, $5,000 to cumulative improvements and only $1,164 to the rainy day fund.
The numbers were based on 2009 figures after the State Board of Accounts spent some weeks combing over town accounts from the past two years.
The town did not properly maintain accounting records for those years, according to a July Board of Accounts report.
The report cites lack of segregation of duties, failure by the town council to exercise oversight, failure by the clerk-treasurer to regularly reconcile town fund balances to bank balances, and failure by the town to identify risks to the preparation of reliable financial statements as deficiencies in the internal control system.
Among findings in the report, Claypool did not update its water utility billing software and charged customers for 2010 rates for all of 2011; kept no record of amounts paid and balance due for cemetery lots; and expended a total close to $88,000 in excess of budgeted appropriations from the general, motor vehicle highway and rainy day funds in those two years.
The full report is available online at www.in.gov/sboa/WebReports/B40730.pdf
As a result of the bookkeeping in those years, the budgets for 2010 and 2011 were lower than the one passed Monday, with a general fund balance of only $103,000 for each year, Clerk-Treasurer Miccah Shepherd noted Monday.
Shepherd, who took over nine months ago from previous clerk-treasurer Arlene Leiter, submitted Monday a letter of resignation effective Oct. 6. Shepherd’s family bought a house outside of town limits, while the clerk-treasurer must be a Claypool resident.
The town will hire a temporary clerk-treasurer while it seeks a permanent replacement to finish Shepherd’s term. Shepherd ran for the Libertarian party so there will be no Republican or Democrat caucus for the position, town officials observed.
Town officials said applications from qualified residents may be submitted at the town office. Council will begin interviews at the Oct. 15 meeting.
Also Monday, the council approved the purchase of new grinder pumps for lift station number one at a cost of $11,255, and new stop bars and signs at all railroad crossings for about $4,000.
The railroad improvements could be covered fully by an Indiana Department of Transportation grant, while the council agreed the pumps are needed to avoid ongoing costs from the old pumps.
Council President Niki Miller noted the town has spent $12,000 so far this year pulling, cleaning and repairing the 15-year-old grinder pumps due to large debris entering the system. Wastewater Superintendent Danny Warner had requested of residents at the last meeting that they not flush non-flushables down their toilets, such as rags and tampons, because of the problems they cause at the water treatment plant.
“I’m pretty sure we need to do something. I’m sure Danny’s tired of getting up at 3 a.m. to pull that stuff out,” Miller said Monday. “And I would hate to think we’ll spend another $12,000 before the end of the year.”
