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Niles expenditures are not accessible on the city’s new software system
By Jordan Cohen
NILES
With a May 12 deadline looming for Niles’ fiscal-emergency recovery plan, the chairman of the commission overseeing the recovery has criticized Auditor Charles Nader because the city’s expenditures are not accessible on the city’s new software system.
“I am absolutely frustrated,” said Sharon Hanrahan, Office of Budget and Management administrator and chairman of the Financial Planning and Supervision Commission. “I know his back is to the wall right now, but it should have been to the wall months ago,” she told The Vindicator on Monday.
State Auditor Dave Yost declared Niles in fiscal emergency last October.
Two months before the declaration, council approved purchase of new accounting software for $162,000. Hanrahan said Nader’s office has been able to input revenues on the new system but not expenditures, including one of the largest: payroll. Those figures remain on the older system, which is hampering the commission’s efforts to get a clearer picture of the city’s finances.
“It isn’t clear to the state auditors what’s in and what isn’t” said Hanrahan, who on several occasions has sharply criticized the city’s slowness to modernize record keeping.
“I expect this from communities of a few hundred people, but not from a city [the size of Niles],” she said.
“I understand her frustration,” responded Nader, who confirmed Hanrahan’s description. “It takes time, and everything has to be built from scratch.”
The auditor said that he, an accountant and the deputy auditor have been working to input all expenditures. “I know that it’s not a good- enough answer, but we’re doing the best we can,” the auditor said.
Nader said he could not project when the conversion would be completed to the state auditor’s satisfaction.
His response did not satisfy Robert Marino, council president and commission member, who suggested that the auditor consider overtime or compensatory time for expediting the transition.
“I don’t understand how [Nader] cannot feel a sense of urgency in light of all that has happened to this community,” Marino said. “We have to get that work done [because] lives are going to be impacted by this.”
Nader was not the only city official who came under fire from Marino. “It is completely inexcusable that the books have not been reconciled in the office of the treasurer [Robert Swauger],” the council president said.
Mayor Ralph Infante said record-keeping issues will not affect completion of the five-year recovery plan, which must be submitted to the commission by the deadline next Tuesday or the city faces a mandatory reduction of expenditures. Infante revealed that the city’s deficit, which last January was $1.3 million, is down to $200,000 — a surprising figure because deficit estimates as recently as two weeks ago exceeded $600,000.
“That’s the figure the state auditors have given me on paper,” the mayor said, acknowledging the absence of electronic records. “We’ll be OK this year, but I have to submit a plan for five years, and we’re still working on that.”
The mayor said his plan will not be ready for council’s next meeting Wednesday, but he anticipates calling a special session before the deadline. Council approval is required under law before the plan can be submitted to the commission.