Saratoga at impasse on upcoming audit

As 2020 comes to a close for the Town of Saratoga, the Saratoga Town Council will be entering the new year without a mayor, town clerk, legal counsel and potentially without an accounting firm to perform their audit.

This revelation came about during the December 15 meeting of the governing body as the municipality stares down and will likely fail to meet a December 31 deadline to submit an F66 form to the Wyoming Department of Audit.

In emails sent by Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Keel to the rest of the council and councilmembers-elect—and made available to the public at the meeting—the accounting firm Carver, Florek and James (CFJ) expressed concerns over a new engagement with the Town.

As was reported previously (see “Discussing finances” on page 3 of the August 28, 2019 Saratoga Sun), CFJ was the only accounting firm to respond to a request for proposal from the Town of Saratoga after they had decided not to engage with long-time auditors Anton Collins Mitchell (ACM).

Among the concerns expressed by CFJ partner Jason Lund were the governing body’s refusal to accept retroactive interfund transfers and a “lack of integrity” shown by the council.

“James (Childress) and Jason both explained that, by not choosing to do any retroactive interfund transfers ,it will be impossible to have a completed audit due to the fact that the Town, in essence, refuses to address negative findings of previous audits,” wrote Keel in the email. “We as a council need to decide on how we want to address this issue so that we can move forward on the audit and get it completed.”

Keel added that, until the issue of retroactive interfund transfers was addressed by the governing body, CFJ would not enter into an agreement with the Town.

As for the “lack of integrity” that was referenced by Lund, Keel wrote that it stemmed from how the council “has interacted with the public, members of its own council and with outside agencies.”

“He stated that before his firm would engage with the town, the council would need to choose a mayor, have a clear direction of how we will fix the problems with our budget, give better direction on the office of town clerk and to commit to having outside help with preparing our reports for the accountants,” wrote Keel.

During the December 1 meeting, after soliciting the opinion of incoming council members Creed James and Ben Spaulding, the council was split on how to proceed in appointing a mayor despite recommendations from James and Spaulding to appoint Councilmember D’Ron Campbell.

Additionally, a proposed special meeting to discuss job descriptions for Saratoga Town Clerk never took place.

Spaulding, who was in attendance with James, asked Keel if he would be able to expand on Lund’s concerns of a lack of integrity with the town council.

“I understand there’s been arguments and disagreements with what has happened but I want to understand where his mindset is with the ‘lack of integrity’,” said Spaulding. 

While Keel stated that he did not want to speak for Lund or put words in his mouth, Spaulding asked Keel his opinion in regards to the lack of integrity.

“I think we’re all very aware of things that have happened in this town, with this town council,” said

Keel.

Councilmember Jon Nelson responded to Spaulding, stating that he believed the concerns were in regards to his handling of various issues in regards to financial questions.

Discussion amongst the council moved between the concerns from CFJ and an engagement letter from Childress, but ultimately led to Nelson proposing the Wyoming Department of Audit be brought in to audit the Town of Saratoga.

In March, a motion by Nelson to contact the Wyoming Department of Audit failed 2-3 with Nelson and former mayor John Zeiger both voting aye (see “Going through the motions” on page 3 of the March 11 Saratoga Sun).

“What I heard Agent (Mike) Carlson say at the last meeting was that the State Department of Audit will not be involved in Saratoga’s quandary as long as we have an auditor or an accountant that we’re actively engaged with,” said Nelson. “That says to me that if we don’t have one that they will step in and sort it out.”

Keel replied to Nelson by stating that the Wyoming Department of Audit would hire an accounting firm to perform an audit for the Town of Saratoga. In doing so, however, the municipality would lose any ability to accept bids or negotiate on rates. 

Keel stated later that he was informed by the Department of Audit that the governing body would first have to put out a request for proposal for another accounting firm. If the Town of Saratoga did not receive any proposals, then the state department could be contacted.

“We just have to pay whatever the Department of Audit tells us we have to pay,” said Keel.

“But we’ll get an audit,” responded Nelson.

Both Nelson and Campbell stated that they believed an audit performed by a firm contracted by the Wyoming Department of Audit wouldn’t be “manipulated” due to retroactive interfund transfers.

If the Town of Saratoga were to go with a different accounting firm for an audit of Fiscal Year 2019/2020, it would be the third accounting firm in as many years.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 7 p.m. on January 5, 2021 at Saratoga Town Hall.