New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart (R) says that the city’s long-overdue audit report from the budget year that ended a year and a half ago will be “available” in January.
“The audit is due December 15th,” said Stewart. “We should have that document in January.”
The city had previously told state officials that its “projected” date to complete the audit was October 31, 2023.
Stewart made the comment at the December 13th City Council meeting, just after the Council referred to committee a proposed ordinance to create a Council Audit Subcommittee. The proposal was introduced by the Democratic Council leaders, President Pro-Tempore, Ald. Francisco Santiago (D-5) and Council Majority Leader, Ald. John McNamara (D).
In October, 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, concerning the city of New Britain audit report for the budget year that was from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022 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.
In October, 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.”
The New Britain Progressive obtained the city’s response to the state by a Freedom of Information request. 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.
The proposed new Council Audit Subcommittee now under consideration by the Council would be responsible to, “provide general oversight of finance department functions, including compliance with applicable laws and regulations relating to financial controls, and other related matters.”
The Subcommittee would also, “review all items relating to the selection of an independent auditor for the City of New Britain, including, but not limited to, full review of all request for proposal documents, correspondences relating to the qualification or selection process, any and all information regarding the city independent auditor.”
The proposal is to have a public hearing in January.
