Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Finance committee hears warnings on audits, reconciliations and market access; consultants proposed to catch up accounts
Summary
City officials and outside consultants told Holyoke’s Finance Committee on Oct. 15 that long-standing unreconciled cash and delayed audits have withdrawn normal credit access and led to withheld state aid, and that a consultant team will try to reconcile records and automate reporting.
Holyoke City officials and outside consultants briefed the Finance Committee on Oct. 15 about long-running problems in the city’s financial reporting, missing reconciliations and delayed audits that have affected state aid, bond-market access and credit ratings.
Treasurer Rory Casey and outside consultants TJ Plant of Open Architects and a data lead named Cinder told the committee that multiple audits and reconciliations remain incomplete, contributing to the Commonwealth’s Division of Local Services (DLS) interventions and to credit-rating pressure from Moody’s and other agencies. Casey described a pattern stretching back years. “For 6 of the past 8 years, the city has been late in filing its schedule a. 5 of those years resulted in local aid being withheld,” he said, citing longstanding DLS findings.
Consultant TJ Plant said Open Architects’ team has received the city’s financial data and will attempt to reconcile bank statements, the cash book and Munis/Xero…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
