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CMLP reconciliation, meter rollout and system complexity complicate audits; governance review planned
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Summary
Committee heard that CLA was hired to reconcile cash back through 2023/2024 after an ERP conversion, that advanced meter and billing rollouts introduced reconciliation headaches, and that a governance proposal for the municipal light plant is expected to go to the select board this spring.
The Financial Audit Advisory Committee discussed long-running accounting and systems issues at the municipal light plant (CMLP) and how those issues have complicated the town’s audits and reconciliations.
CMLP representatives told the committee that an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) project (contract awarded to Eaton in 2022) and associated billing integrations have been in rollout since 2023, with major activity in 2024 and near-completion in mid-2025. A representative said third-party installers handled meter swaps and a separate water-meter replacement effort followed. Staff described complications tying assessor, GIS and billing data together, and noted that stormwater bills produced many very small balances (e.g., $2.50) that required the town to change payment-platform minimums.
Separately, CLA was engaged to help reconcile cash and close months dating back to 2023 and 2024 after an ERP (Munis) conversion created unreconciled balances. Committee members heard that CLA’s reconciliation work found gaps that pushed adjustments into prior periods; the team reported reaching reconciliations through April 2024 and said work would continue so FY25 could begin with known balances.
Committee members and staff described operational friction from running two systems of record (the town’s Munis general ledger and the utility billing system NISC). Staff said bridging the systems would be costly (a six-figure initial build plus ongoing maintenance) and could introduce vendor-number risks if not maintained perfectly. "We've been falling on the side of controls, which is good but cumbersome," the Chair said, noting the trade-off between efficiency and safeguards.
Members were briefed on longer-term governance work: a standing working group has been exploring structural changes to CMLP governance for more than a year, and staff said a proposal could reach the select board as soon as May or in the summer for public vetting. Staff emphasized that even with governance changes, the light plant would still be required to use the town’s treasury and thus would not be completely fiscally decoupled.
Committee next steps: staff will include the CMLP reconciliation status and governance proposal considerations in the committee’s draft letter to the select board; committee members asked for periodic updates and for documentation of system-of-record relationships, reconciliation policies and CLA deliverables.
