And it does not appear to be caused by changing from a town accountant (town employee) to an accounting service. Looks like there are a few towns that struggle with "good numbers"
ASHBURNHAM — The fiscal problems of the small town are being untangled slowly, and the cause is being found and attempts being made to make it right again.
There was more to the fiscal story that floated to the surface at a recent meeting about troubles the town had filing with the state to have their finances approved and free cash certified. The town has not yet filed its fiscal 2018 audit. This problem centers around a change in accounting software from Munis to VADAR.
During a recent meeting of the Board of Selectmen, member Leo Janssens asked, “Where we were once on Munis, would it be costly to go back to it?”
Chairwoman Rosemarie Meissner told him that she had asked and it would be expensive to return to Munis, software that provides data management for municipalities and school districts.
The town moved on from Munis to VADAR, which Selectman John Mulhall described as trading a Cadillac with all its bells and whistles for a Kia.
Meissner said she was quoted $800,000 to return to the Munis software the town had once used.
She explained that when the town was running Munis, it received a reduced rate for upgrades, but now the town would have to buy the brand new package, making it extremely costly.
Interim Town Administrator Douglas Briggs described the problems of switching from the Munis software program to the new VADAR program.
“When the changeover happened, some of the numbers to Munis went over to VADAR, and they changed, so the numbers weren’t the correct numbers,” he said. “What we would have to do is have somebody go back in under Munis and see what the number is. ... How do you do that when the number is gone?”
Briggs said he will contact Munis to find a solution to retrieving the numbers and how much it will cost.
Meissner wondered if they could return to Munis and what would it cost for a short period of time to maintain the VADAR system so records can be transposed correctly. Meissner said it should take about three months to assure the numbers have transferred correctly.
Meissner explained that the town shut off Munis on June 30, and there is no way to access it.
“We didn’t have a backup, nothing. We went into VADAR and we didn’t have the full package. We did not buy the upgraded model,” she said. “We got the bare-bones model.”
“So we went from the full-loaded Cadillac to the stripped-down Kia,” said Janssens.
Meissner told Briggs that he should “make that call” to find out what can be done to rectify the situation where numbers in the budget disappeared. She said it also may impact other things down the line.
Briggs took over as acting town administrator after Memorial Day and immediately discovered that the town needed to complete the 2018 audit. Though they have tried to reconcile numbers between the treasurer and accountant before July, they soon realized they would not be in time to get free cash certified. Briggs said the town is getting close on finishing up the fiscal 2018 budget. He said the auditor was also willing to do fiscal 2019. They are still trying to determine the price, but Briggs said he’s sure 2019 will go much easier than 2018.
