SPRINGETTSBURY TOWNSHIP JUNE 24, 2010
REGULAR MEETING APPROVED
15 A. Wastewater Treatment Plant Odor Issues
SCHENCK Chairman Schenk reported that Mr. Luciani provided a brief in Executive Session on the Walters Property and the progress as it relates to the township financially. He noted that Mr. Dvoryak asked that the wastewater treatment plant odor issues remain on the agenda.
HOLMAN Mr. Holman noted that Mr. Hodgkinson advised him there had been no complaints since the previous meeting.
14. NEW BUSINESS
REINER Mr. Mike Reiner, Auditor, referred to two audit reports - , the township audit report for the year ending December 31, 2009, and the Sewer Audit report. He noted the Sewer Operating Audit Report was done in accordance with the Inter- municipal Agreement, which provides the operational numbers for billings. Mr. Reiner indicated he would review the township report, noting he met prior to this meeting with Ms. Landis and Mr. Bishop to review the report in detail. He noted the following points:
The audit opinion on page 1 incorporates the financial statements as a whole. The 4th paragraph references the fact that the management discussion analysis
document, pages A through J, is the development and management and is not an audit document.
It provides comparative analysis information as well as pie charts related to revenue analysis and expense analysis.
It gives financial highlights as drafted by Mr. Hadge and Mr. Holman. The actual audit report begins on page 1 and is the consolidated audit
statements of the township, consolidating the entire township into two
columns, governmental activities and business type activity which is the sewer operations.
The township has 9 governmental activities which are presented in a consolidated format, as detailed on page 4.
Page 3 provides the statement of activities, which shows that this year the township operated on approximately $23 million of expenses between all of its elements.
Next is a series of revenues called program derivatives which are subtracted to arrive at a net cost.
At the bottom of page 3 are the general revenues. The general revenues under GASBE are defined as real estate property taxes. All of the other aside taxes are Business Mercantile Earned Income Taxes and investment earnings as well as miscellaneous revenue category.
The governmental activities had a decrease in net assets. The business type activities had an increase in net assets for the year.
Page 4 is a breakdown of the governmental activity with a break out of major funds. There are 9 elements in government activity and they are required to
SPRINGETTSBURY TOWNSHIP JUNE 24, 2010
REGULAR MEETING APPROVED
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report on all major funds. The township’s general fund is the only calculated major fund. The township has elected, based on past reporting practice, to include the capital improvement fund and the grant fund as a major fund as well, that is represented on this page as well as through following pages of information.
The General Fund on page 4 is the primary Operating Fund which breaks out the ending fund balance, which is undesignated for the township. This represents just over $1.6 million of remaining reserve funds.
The Operating Schedule on page 6 goes into the breakdown of the major funds and shows the General Fund total operations. The six funds make up the non-major funds located in the back of the report. The detail analysis of each fund combined into these totals is provided.
The General Fund this year had a deficit which was less than anticipated, since the township budgeted for a larger deficit. The actual results came in substantially less because of the nature of the township. The township is historically budgeted very conservatively for revenues and aggressively for expenditures. 98% of the total budget was expended which means there was less than 2% of unspent budget expenditures, but revenues came in above the anticipated levels showing conservative budgeting.
The fire fund was over budget this year, due to appropriated capital purchase for YAUFR for new equipment. That money was disbursed from the
township late in the year and was an unanticipated expenditure.
Page 8 identifies the business type activity for Sewer Fund operations, which there is only one. The operations schedule this year is inflated since the township was awarded a large capital grant, which is reflected on the schedule on page 10. At the bottom of the page is reflected a large capital grant which increased the bottom line profit of the township in the sewer fund. It is the excess of revenues over expenses for the year. The million dollar grant that was awarded to the township is reflected. It was not received by the township prior to year end, but was based on expenditures incurred by the township prior to December 31st. The board also approved a grant audit related to that million dollar grant, which was submitted previously.
The township has a series of funds they are fiduciary responsible for which are the pension funds, shown on page 12. There are four pension funds, as well as two private purpose trust funds. The escrow agency fund is also presented in detail as the same method of the county on this page. All pension funds of the township have improved over the previous fiscal
year.
Mr. Reiner provided a highlight of the last page of the notes because it provided a substantive event note disclosure on Page 35 that took place due to the fact that the township issued new debt for a sewer project in March of 2010. The first 30/40 pages are the required schedules. Mr. Renier stated that the budget is audited after the township has completed the budget process.
SPRINGETTSBURY TOWNSHIP JUNE 24, 2010
REGULAR MEETING APPROVED
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Mr. Reiner stated there are two additional communications as part of the audit processing at the back of the report. He commented it was a good year for the township as far as from an operations point of view. The township came in under the budget deficit amount substantially because of the revenues so it does reflect well from that perspective.
BISHOP Mr. Bishop requested that Mr. Reiner summarize the deficiencies mentioned in his letter for clarification.
REINER Mr. Reiner responded that the letter of comments related to some of the
deficiencies found during the audit process. One was related to the Tax Collector, since information requested from the Tax Collector was not provided,
necessitating obtaining more research information through the township. He noted the taxes are not always turned over timely, and there were disbursements out of her tax collector account for refunds that she did not provide to the
township. There was money turned over to the township that they had questions on as far as how she reported it. Although they were reported as far as tax revenues go, part of her tax collector obligations is to submit a tax collector report, and there was a point where she turned over money that was not included in her report. As part of reconciling her records, they became exceptions to the rules and exceptions to reconciling her total numbers. They were not large dollar amounts, but they were exceptions for which they requested detail that was not provided.
BISHOP Mr. Bishop asked for clarification on the numbers.
REINER Mr. Reiner indicated in the previous audit requested there was approximately $120,000 of taxes that were not explained. Another audit firm came in and did a forensic audit of her records, and they determined the dollar amount. She did turn over that dollar amount to the township, but she never provided the detail list of what taxpayers that money related to, which they requested. So now at the end of this year, they requested that she provide a reconciliation of $27,000 of taxes in that account.
Mr. Reiner indicated that although the dollar amounts have come down substantially, they still have issues with the reporting and reconciliations. He noted there is continuing work on the township side to reconcile the records, creating more issues since there are numerous small dollar numbers on the books. RAUSCH Solicitor Rausch noted that normally her account at the end of the year should be
close to zero.
REINER Mr. Reiner concurred, noting that as of January 2010 there was $27,000 sitting in that account.
SPRINGETTSBURY TOWNSHIP JUNE 24, 2010
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Mr. Reiner stated the other item is related to the county aid reporting. The
township prepares a MS999 report to PennDOT for road project funding. As part of the reporting the township was using both liquid fuels and county aid money to do those projects. However, the expenses were all paid out of the state liquid fuels funds so that $95,000 of county aid money received should have been used to pay some of those expenses. Subsequently after year end, the township had to reimburse the liquid fuels fund the $95,000. Mr. Reiner indicated that PennDOT prefers that the bills be split when paying them rather than reimbursing at the end of the year or actually during the next fiscal year. This was added to the
comments.
Mr. Reiner indicated that when they audited the pension funds, they noted there were forfeitures, which are returned back to the township or credited back to the township. Those should be used to reduce the township’s future contributions. There was a small dollar amount, several thousand dollars, of total forfeitures - money that was posted but was never used against those credits throughout the rest of the year so they referenced the fact that they should be used timely. Mr. Reiner indicated the last item on his comment letter relates to year end closing procedures. The audit process began February 26th. At that time the township had not closed all of its funds and activities and there were several items left undone because of operating in a new fiscal year and not closing the previous fiscal year. There were also some items that were delayed getting done, such as staff turnover at year end.
B. Authorization to Advertise Sale of Various Items by Online Auction (Municibid). HOLMAN Mr. Holman indicated the York Area United Fire and Rescue requested the
township to include two of their fire vehicles on the Municibid program.
MS. LANDIS MOVED TO AUTHORIZE TO ADVERTISE SALE OF VARIOUS ITEMS