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WINSLOW — Olivia Brasher of the accounting firm Fester and Chapman presented the annual audit for the fiscal year 2018 to the Winslow City Council last week. In that presentation Brasher noted, “We did have a finding related to the financial reporting process and a repeat finding from last year related to the housing department. Tenant rent payments were not being entered into the bank account.”
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Brasher was referring to an incident in 2018 involving Joyce Shorthair, the long-time director of the Winslow Public Housing Authority, in which she has been convicted for her involvement in the misappropriation of over $70,000. “About $26,000 rolled in to this audit period that we were in, and another about $50,000 last fiscal year,” explained Brasher.
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City of Winslow Financial Director Elias Jouen commented, “I just want to let everyone know that the risk pool restored the $70,000 in stolen funds in the current year. We were reimbursed, but it will not show on last year’s audit. It will reflect on the 2019 audit.”
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Winslow City Manager John Barkley added, “Also, there has been a conviction in the case. I don’t know whether I can elaborate. There has been no sentencing at this point, that is all that we know, we don’t have any details about that.”
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In a follow-up e-mail from Jouen, it was made clear that a sentencing hearing for Joyce Shorthair will take place on Wednesday, April 17.
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Brasher continued, “We also test federal grants. There is a way that we go about selecting those, but this audit period, we tested Section 8 and Public Indian Housing federal grants. Last year there were about nine findings related to those programs. This year it is down to six so some of those have been corrected and it is our understanding that the others should be corrected in this current period.”
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She explained that some of the findings were related to staffing issues in the finance department. “As we understand,” she said, “those issues have been remedied and will reflect on the next audit.”
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The City of Winslow currently holds approximately $47 million in citywide equity. Brasher said, “Most of that is in infrastructure and fixed assets, about $38 million. You have about $5 million that is restricted for capital improvements and the rest of the $47 million is allocated for debt service, highway repair, streets, public housing and so forth.”
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She also mentioned notable increases and decreases in various fund types. “The governmental funds, including the general fund, they showed net increases of $1.2 million. The general fund had a $22,000 increase, highways and streets increased $79,000, capital projects fund $1.2 million increase and the housing fund had a $91,000 decrease. That is net income for those.
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“Business type funds, such as water and wastewater, airport and sanitation funds experienced a net increase of $290,000. Increases in the water and wastewater fund were $437,000 and $108,000 respectively. There were decreases in the airport fund of $38,000, and a decrease in the sanitation fund of $217,000.”
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Mayor Tom McCauley asked for clarity, saying, “It shows we have a net increase of $290,000 and then an increase in the water fund to $437,000. Is that in any way, shape or form to be given to the new meters?”
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Jouen responded, “Mr. Mayor, yes. Technically, the new meters project was supposed to be completed by June 30, but there was a delay. So, that carried over in to the current year so the reflection in the current year is actually a liability.”
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McCauley asked, “My question is, have we seen a net increase in funding coming in from the new meters?”
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Jouen said, “I cannot answer that down to an exact dollar amount, it is all almost a wash. There were instances where some meters were totally faulty and not reading correctly and now, we are collecting accurate data and recouping lost revenues. This is not new revenue, it is lost revenue due to faulty meters.”
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The entire audit report by Fester and Chapman is available on the city’s website as well as at City Hall, located at 21 N. Williamson Ave.
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