Winchester gets clean audit report for 2019

Published 9:58 am Thursday, January 23, 2020

Members of the Winchester Board of Commissioners heard a presentation Tuesday by Thomas S. Sparks, a certified public accountant, on the city’s audit for the 2019 fiscal year that ended June 30.

“This is an unmodified opinion, which is a clean report,” Sparks said. “We did not find any evidence of misappropriations.”

His firm’s management letter did include recommendations for strengthening internal controls and operating efficiencies.

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Some examples included:

— Grant project files for some ongoing and completed projects could not be found.

— Bank reconciliations for the month of June were not reviewed in a timely manner.

— Payroll withholding transactions were not posted in a timely manner.

— Several purchases were made before purchase orders were prepared.

— Several invoices were not paid within 30 days.

– A few invoices did not have supporting documentation.

– It was recommended that the city review purchasing policies and procedures with department heads and others.

– The auditors noted that some capital assets surplus transactions approved in 2018 were again approved in 2019.

– It was discovered that a tax abatement granted had not been recorded in the general ledger.

The city’s financial statements showed its total assets had declined from 2018 by more than $1.2 million to $24.9 million. Total liabilities increased about $733,000, much of that was as a result of increased pension costs.

Total revenue in 2019 decreased about $95,000 to $19.7 million. Sparks noted that the city did not have as much grant money as in prior years, and the decrease in grants offset increased tax income. Spending increased by about $1.9 million, which is also largely related to the increasing cost of the city’s share of the County Employee Retirement System funding.

In other business, the commission:

– approved a number of changes to the 2019 budget.

– approved a display the city’s logo on video boards during the 10th Region girls and boys basketball 40th District tournaments at George Rogers Clark High School’s new gymnasium.

– approved the transfer of a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria to the Clark County Board of Education to be used by a school resource officer.

– appointed Meredith Guy to fill the unexpired term of Drew Graham on the Winchester Historic Preservation Commission.

— appointed Joseph Miller to fill the unexpired term of Lisa Vincent on Main Street Winchester’s board.

  approved an order funding from the Downtown Development Investment Fund for revitalization of properties downtown in the form of roof stabilization grants for three buildings.

– approved a street light at 118 Linden Ave.

– approved orders to hire Tonya Judy, Travis Ashcroft, Jessica Jones and Tyler Palfrey as communications officers, and to reclassify three others, Jansen Thomas, Mesha Daniel and Adam Wilson.

About Randy Patrick

Randy Patrick is a reporter for Bluegrass Newsmedia, which includes The Jessamine Journal. He may be reached at 859-759-0015 or by email at randy.patrick@bluegrassnewsmedia.com.

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