Democrats Call for Transparency in City Budget After Audit Delay Disclosed

Ward 3 Ald. Aram Ayalon (D) and Democratic mayoral candidate Chis Anderson are calling for quick release of information on the city of New Britain’s finances after it has been disclosed that administration of Mayor Erin Stewart (R) is three-quarters of a year late in filing a required annual budget audit with the state.

“Is the City planning to submit the report before the November elections in order to reassure the residents of New Britain that the City is in a financially sound state?” Ald. Ayalon is asking in an official City Council petition, to be heard at the October 11, 2023 Council meeting.

“In a year when residents are dealing with double digit tax increases and City Hall spending is way over the rate of inflation,” Anderson said, “New Britain taxpayers need answers to the same questions OPM is asking for the city to be in compliance with the audit reporting law.”

On Tuesday, the New Britain Progressive broke the news about a stern letter from the state Office of Policy and Management, on September 12, 2023, with the subject, “Noncompliance with the Municipal and State Single Auditing Act,” because of, “Outstanding and Late FY 2022 Audit Reports.” The letter said,

This letter of noncompliance is being sent on behalf of the Municipal Finance Advisory Commission (MFAC). Statutorily, the municipality’s June 30, 2022, audit report was to have been submitted to the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) by December 31, 2022, but remains outstanding as of the date of this letter. The City of New Britain is eligible for Tier I designation under Section 7-395d of the General Statutes from not having submitted its June 30, 2022 Financial and State Single Audit Reports within 12 months of its fiscal year end.

The letter asked the city to respond on the situation by September 29, 2023.

On Wednesday, Stewart told a community activist that, “We did reply to OPM and let them know that we are still working on the audit with our outside auditors. They accepted the notice and we are in touch as the audit continues on. We are in compliance right now with OPM’s requests.”

But Anderson said that the delay in filing the audit, now it its tenth month, “raises serious doubts about the Stewart administration’s transparency and accountability.”

Anderson added, “I call upon the Stewart administration to disclose what is being done to submit the 2022 audit and other steps to avoid delays in the 2023 audit and 2024 (the current fiscal year).”

Meanwhile, Ayalon’s petition says that, “constituents have raised concerns that ‘Noncompliance with the OPM directive is possible evidence of fraud, waste and/or abuse of authority.'”

The New Britain Progressive obtained the city’s response to the state by a Freedom of Information request this week. The message, from City Finance Director, Jonathan Perugini, was received by the state on September 29th at 5:42pm, the evening of the deadline set by the state.

In that message to the state, Perugini, claimed that the city had, “massive finance office staffing shortages that started from March 2022 until May 2023.” Perugini said the finance office he leads lost three quarters of its staff from retirements and other reasons.

Perugini, whose salary appears in the most recent city budget to be $153,948, went on to claim that, “The Finance Office has 12 full time positions and only 3 of us have more than 3 full years up in Finance.” While Perugini claimed that the staffing shortage was between March 2022 until May 2023, the city budget, published in June of 2023 appears to show seven of the twelve employees with four or more years of service, and five with at least the fifteen years Perugini has.

But Anderson questioned that reason for the delay. “We’re looking for the audit for the year ending June 30, 2022. It was due in December and is almost 10 months late. The City’s records show only a few vacant positions in Finance which does not excuse the lateness.”

In its response the state’s questions, the city said that its “projected” date to complete the audit is October 31, 2023, which is Halloween, and only one week before the city elections.

“Please provide a report with answers for the requested questions by the deadline for the next Common Council meeting of October 25, 2023,” Ayalon asked in his petition.

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