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Campbell books still need work
By jeanne starmack
campbell
The city’s finance director says he has moved ahead one month in the reconciliation of 2010 bank statements with the city’s books.
Sherman Miles said he has moved on from March to April and must reconcile a difference of “a few thousand dollars” between what the city thought it had and what the bank said it had at that time.
The city would like to ask the state in December for a release from fiscal emergency status, which it’s held since 2004.
But unless the books are brought up to date, that cannot happen.
Miles got help from the state auditor’s office doing January and February 2010’s books.
He wanted more help, but the chairman of a state commission that oversees the city while it is in fiscal emergency would not allow it.
Paul Marshall, who was chairman until his recent retirement, said he would not let the city pay the state to reconcile the books.
Miles has said reconciling statements for government is more complex, and the auditor’s office did not teach him how to do the reconciliations.
He paid $40 an hour out of his own pocket for a consultant to help him, and said Tuesday the consultant no longer is working with him.
“He’s done,” Miles said. “He showed me the process.”
Miles had been grappling with March 2010 this past spring and summer and came within $300 difference between the bank statements and the books. The auditor’s office told him it would be OK to move on.
But the gap this time is too big, he said, and he has to account for it.
He said he still intends to work toward reconciling the books by December.
“I’m going to do my darnedest,” he said.
He said there are other issues noted in a report on the city’s accounting methods that still need to be addressed before the city can ask for release.
“The report on accounting methods showed all d eficiencies in our accounting system,” he said.
Examples include needing to note on payroll sheets how each employee is paid out of various funds, having time sheets for employees and having a secure location for personnel files, he said.
Mayor Bill VanSuch said Tuesday he is still optimistic the city can ask for release from fiscal emergency, which has prevented it from hiring people and from giving raises. During 2010, its financial picture got so bleak that Marshall said the city might shut down. Then, voters passed a levy which allowed it to continue to operate.
“I don’t think it’s too late,” VanSuch said. “But he’s [Miles] gonna have to put the time in. He’s got to do what it takes.”