Finance committee approves one-year audit contract with RKO after debate over sole bid and delays

The Bangor City Finance Committee voted to accept a one-year contract with auditing firm RKO for the city's fiscal 2025 audit at a cost of $174,500, after rejecting a motion to rebid the audit amid concerns about a single bidder and prior delays.

The motion to reject the sole bid and reissue the request for proposals, introduced by Councilor Glennon, failed; committee members then moved and approved a one-year award to RKO while staff will revisit the audit solicitation later this year. The committee’s discussion included comparisons to audit hours and pricing in nearby municipalities and repeated objections about timeliness.

Councilor Glennon said, “I absolutely still have concerns. I still believe there's a monopoly effect here,” and urged that the city reissue the RFP and notify qualified firms statewide. Glennon argued RKO’s hourly rate represented roughly a $50-per-hour premium compared with South Portland and called the firm’s record on meeting prior deadlines into question.

Finance Director David Little and other committee members countered that some audit delays reflected staffing and data-availability problems on the city’s side as well as issues at the auditing firm. Little noted differences in audit complexity — Bangor has seven enterprise funds and more grant programs than the jurisdictions cited for comparison — and said those differences affect staffing and hours required. He also advised that failing to secure an auditor could jeopardize funding and the city’s compliance with bond covenants.

The committee’s packet compared RKO’s proposal (approximately 1,038 estimated audit hours at $174,500) with Markham/CBIS (reported in Portland at about 1,058 hours and $190,000) and with other communities that use different firms and have fewer enterprise funds. Committee members voted to award the single-year contract and to revisit auditing services after completion of the FY25 work.

The committee did not record a full roll-call vote in the transcript; the meeting record shows the rejection motion failed and later a one-year award motion was moved and seconded and carried.

Next steps: staff will proceed under the one-year contract and provide status updates on audit progress; the committee indicated it may reissue an RFP for future years if concerns about timeliness or competition persist.