Trustees outline timeline of finance problems; new finance director uncovering unpaid medical bills and ledger shortfalls

Trustees used their reports on Aug. 11 to walk through recent finance events and to explain how gaps in the village accounting were uncovered.

Trustee Kumar summarized the timeline: the village migrated financial data to BSNA software in mid‑February 2025; the prior finance director remained under contract into June while staff corrected data; a new finance director, Susan Mika, started in May and in early July identified unpaid bills, including municipal medical insurance payments and IRMA assessments for February–April.

Kumar told trustees the numbers appear substantial: "There is a $2.4 million shortfall plus about an $800,000 shortfall in our funds," she said, and added the finance director is actively working with departments to reallocate and reconcile funds in the general ledger.

Manager Reavis and staff said the shortfall is being addressed through monies present in the general fund, and the village treasurer will issue a financial report on Aug. 25, 2025. Trustees agreed more information will be provided offline and asked that staff provide a memo with cost estimates and a timeline to correct the ledgers.

Trustee Sabri urged calm but seriousness, telling residents there's no need to panic while staff reconcile discrepancies: "As bad as it may seem, the issue is not necessarily something to panic about," Sabri said, noting the finance director is working tirelessly to address the shortfall.

The board discussed accountability, differences between budgets submitted to county and budgets provided to the board, and next steps for reporting. No formal finding of misconduct or final accounting was announced at the meeting; staff said a formal financial report will be issued on Aug. 25 and additional details will be provided to the board and public.