WEST PARIS – Problems caused by switching to a new accounting system are plaguing town officials.
Along with having to refile with the Internal Revenue Service and being audited by the Department of Motor Vehicles it was recently discovered that certificates of deposit were not listed on computer records.
Officials are spending much of their time trying to correct the problems.
Selectman Wade Rainey said Tuesday that he still does not know if the financial information in the 2003 annual town report is accurate.
“It’s been really difficult, incredibly challenging,” said Town Clerk Cheryl Shattenberg. “I go home with a headache and exhausted every night.”
Despite the problems, Rainey is confident officials will have a clear picture of finances soon. He and Shattenberg have been working hard to straighten the problems out.
He is determined to succeed.
Accounting problems have been surfacing since March when Shattenberg took over as town clerk and discovered a number of incongruities in the financial records.
The town had to refile income taxes from 2002 of all town employees.
Shattenberg explained that deductions for employees were incorrect and the income was overstated.
“We didn’t know there was a problem until we got a notice from the IRS,” Shattenberg said.
The town is currently being audited by the Department of Motor Vehicles. Rainey said two weeks ago he asked the DMV when the audit could be expected. A DMV spokesman said that they were behind.
The most recent problem came to light about three weeks ago when Shattenberg learned that certificates of deposit were not listed in the computer records.
Rainey explained that the certificates were listed on hand written records the town used in 2001. He said they were not inputted into the computer software QuickBooks system when implemented later that year.
“It’s not that the money is not there,” Rainey said. “We just don’t have it on computer. In the town report, it’s not that the figures are not there. They are just in such a disarray.
“We should have never gone to the QuickBooks system,” he said. It’s not a municipal accounting system. If you have a bookkeeper qualified in QuickBooks, then you can work with it.”
The town did not have someone well versed in QuickBooks on the staff.
Shattenberg said many small towns in Maine use QuickBooks and that the system is simple, but it actually creates more accounting.
She said the current system is not set up properly and she has recently just spent “days and days” going through every deposit.
The town is currently changing accounting systems to the Trio System, a software made specifically for municipalities.
Shattenberg said she is meeting with a professional accountant who is going to help set up a chart of accounts on Sept. 17.
A chart of accounts is a list of accounts payable and accounts receivable.
“I think the money will come out as it should be,” Rainey said. “We won’t have more than we should have.”
jsmedley@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.