The library’s financials are available at every monthly open meeting. At its January meeting, the library made available copies of its financial statements, compiled and certified by a Certified Public Accountant.First of all, we disagree with Ms. Romano regarding the library's financials being available at every meeting...they have never been provided to the public. In keeping with the recent changes to the Freedom of Information Law, handouts should either be posted on the library website or made available prior to the start of the meeting...not thrown in the middle of the board table during the meeting. We have, however, reviewed the figures made available to board members at their meetings and find them sorely lacking in detail.
Second, the financial statements referred to by Ms. Romano are as of December 31, 2011. According to the letter contained in the financials, the report was finished on November 16, 2012. The report was given to the board at the January 9, 2013 board meeting. What good is old information? Who cares what the financial condition of the library was at the end of 2011 when it is now 2013?
To be of any use to the library board, the 2011 financial information should have been discussed at a board meeting by the end of the first quarter of 2012...not the first quarter of 2013.
In our opinion, the library board needs to take their role as trustees of public funds more seriously. They are remiss in not seeing to it that those reports are completed and shared at the board level and presented to the public in a timely manner. It is our opinion that Mr. Wiatr WAS NOT the only trustee that didn't know...he was the only trustee that admitted he didn't know. No other trustees ever question anything...they go on blind faith. We have videotaped other trustees saying "if Earl says so, it must be true". Trustees have a fiduciary responsibility!
Certified financial statements are financial statements that include an accountant's opinion. As bond counsel to many organizations, Ms. Romano should know the difference between a compilation and a certified financial statement. Let's cut out the bull, Ms. Romano!
According to the letter accompanying the 2011 Financial Statements signed by Mr. Dreimiller, in the first paragraph he states:
We have not audited or reviewed the accompanying financial statements and, accordingly, we do not express an opinion or provide any assurance about whether the financial statements are in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.In the third paragraph, he states:
The objective of a compilation is to assist management in presenting financial information in the form of financial statements without undertaking to obtain or provide any assurance that there are no material modification that should be made to the financial statements.We highly doubt that Mr. Dreimiller in his 2010-2011 compilation of the Financial Statements of the New Hartford Public Library is certifying anything!!
The fourth paragraph of that letter states:
Management has elected to omit substantially all of the footnote disclosures required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. If the omitted footnote disclosures were included in the financial statements, they might influence the user's conclusions about the Organization's financial position, results of operations and cash flows. Accordingly, these financial statements are not designed for those who are not informed about such matters.What possible reason could there be in omitting footnotes to financial statements?
In comparing, the compilations with no footnotes most recently completed by Dan Dreimiller, a former library trustee, against older library financial reports that included footnotes and were completed by another accounting firm, one could make an assumption that the footnotes are being omitted to keep an "outsider" from obtaining accurate information regarding the financial status of the library.
A letter is being sent to Mr. Dan Dreimiller, CPA P.C., asking him to confirm that he has certified the New Hartford Public Library 2010 2011 Financial Statement (Compiled) that was prepared by his accounting firm. Given the above statements found in the financials, we would guess that Mr. Dan Dreimiller will not respond in the affirmative.
After all, let's be realistic...his business depends on his reputation...with no review conducted by his firm, he is not going to certify a compilation made up of numbers presented to him by any organization. He even states in his letter that "Management is responsible for the preparation and fair representation of the financial statements...".
Here is a copy of the New Hartford Public Library 2010/ 2011 Financial Statements prepared by Daniel T. Dreimiller, CPA P.C., who is also the Finance Director for the Town of New Hartford.
To be continued...
2 comments:
Ms. Romano: I met with you almost a year ago telling you I wished to work with you as town board liaison. We discussed many things; the thing you wanted to discuss the most and kept coming back to was one particular trustee.
I attended one of your inconveniently scheduled (noon) board meetings. I attended your hastily-called public hearing before the library vote. I gave the better part of the day to the library on the day of the vote. I attended one of your library finance meetings at the library where I saw work divvied up, and then watched the deadline for the budget come and go as no more public meetings were held until the absolute last moment. I sat down with library employee Mr. Senn for almost an entire morning at his request to discuss the library. After the vote was opened and read, I asked you to meet with me asap to discuss the library while handing you my card with my phone number. You dismissed me, refused to take the card and told me you know how to get ahold of me. And then you NEVER called. You prefer to call the Supervisor and meet with him WITHOUT the liaison (me) present or even notified. Truth be known, you have NEVER initiated contact with me. Never.
So please don't leave the public with the impression I don't care or I don't put time into the library because that is misleading and incorrect.
Further, last year Mr. Cunningham approached the Supervisor and told him the library was in danger of closing if the town didn't give an additional $50,000 to it asap.... All the time he NEVER mentioned you were sitting on a 20% / $100,000 reserve.
20% !!! FIVE times what a school reserve is allowed to be by law! I mention schools because both the library and public schools answer to the Board of Regents.
And finally, when one of your employees confirms to me your librarian has a history of ranting and raving while throwing books around... and knowing you have no problem telling people your thoughts, I wonder how it is he is still the librarian. In my opinion, the sloppiness and lack of good people skills I and others observe in his office and conduct is half the library's problem.
All everybody wants is for the library to run smoothly and efficiently - within budget. We can only fund you to an affordable tax-manageable level, YOU have to make the funds we allocate to you work. Instead of crabbing about how the town funds you, if you put as much work into raising the $80,000 you plan on fundraising this year (February is almost here, one month gone!) as you do in writing factually-incorrect editorials to the O-D, perhaps something positive can be accomplished.
Is that too much to ask?
-Don Backman
One of your users (if Mr. Senn cares to correct his blog utterings) and a taxpayer who contributes to library operations, besides being the *only* NH Councilman listed on your plaque board as having given to your building fund.
Did the town supervisor know about the surplus? If he in fact did know about it ,why didn't he make that fact known before the vote?
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