Litchfield selectmen agree to request school financial records after Region 20 audit scope narrows

First Selectman Denise Raap and the Litchfield Board of Selectmen agreed May 5 to request the town’s Board of Education financial records and to pursue a local review committee if state-level audit legislation does not advance.

The move followed an update from Selectman John Bongiorno that the Connecticut House removed the education component from H.B. 5323 and that state senators have proposed narrowing the bill’s audit scope. Bongiorno said the senator’s options include a forensic audit limited to the final fiscal quarter for Litchfield Public Schools and Region 6 or an audit of funds spent by four towns on creating and rebranding Region 20. Raap said that, if the Senate does not pass a bill that provides for an audit, the town retains custody of Litchfield Public Schools’ financial records and could form a local committee to review them.

The board agreed that Raap should request the Litchfield Board of Education financial records and asked Bongiorno to prepare a proposed scope and a resolution to establish the committee. No formal vote on committee formation was recorded; the board’s action was to request records and to prepare a scope document for future consideration.

The discussion focused on whether a state audit would occur or whether local review is the fallback; board members debated whether the review should be limited in time or scope and noted that any change to election procedures for Region 20 representatives would require amendments to the regionalization plan and approval by all towns in the region. The board did not set a timeline for the local review committee’s work or for when the requested records would arrive.