Audit Uncovers Fiscal Disarray

Meeting 41 of 50 fiscal "best practices"means the city will receive all its state aid this year, Chief Financial Officer Al Steinberg told the City Council Monday.

Steinberg led with that good news before he and Bob Swisher of the auditing firm Supplee, Clooney went on to paint a picture of financial disarray uncovered in the 2013 audit.

Among answers to the state best practices checklist, when it came to whether all prior audit findings had been addressed so they would not appear again, Steinberg said, "The answer is a resounding "no."

After Mayor Adrian O. Mapp took office in January, Steinberg became the first permanent chief financial officer since 2007. At times there was no one holding the state-mandated position. Most recently, the business administrator/CFO of a neighboring town spared the city five to seven hours a week from February 2012 through December 2013.

The 2013 audit revealed lapses such as the general ledger, which Swisher called "the most important document," not being maintained. Swisher said it has been a problem for years in Plainfield due to lack of a CFO. At one point, it was off by $55 million.

Money handling was another problem. The city sometimes failed to deposit cash within 48 hours as required. Employees bypassed the purchasing office. Purchases were made without CFO certification that funds were available. People were getting paid without documentation of Social Security numbers for tax forms.

Cash collected for fees in Recreation was then used for purchases. "Obviously that's wrong," Steinberg said.

With financial record-keeping out of whack, Steinberg said, "It takes us weeks to do stuff that should take us days to do."

The audit report is online at the city web site. Although some including Councilwoman Gloria Taylor and Councilman William Reid tried to cast blame on Mapp, the audit was for the final year of the prior administration, as Councilwoman Rebecca Williams and Councilman Cory Storch pointed out.

"I'm glad the house is getting cleaned," Williams said.

Storch said he has heard  the findings for many years and noted it is not the auditor's job to fix them.

"What I see here is something different," he said, namely a CFO "willing to dig deep."

"I have confidence for the first time in eight years," he said.

--Bernice