An audit of town finances was on the agenda of a special meeting at Okarche Town Hall Thursday, April 11, and heated discussions broke out about how many fundraisers the police department has conducted.
The audit had been expected to be presented to the Okarche town trustees in early 2024, but more information was sought. Police Chief Forrest Smith said all information had previously been turned over to the auditing team. He said information about a fundraiser selling patches in 2021 was turned in.
There is still more information needed, an auditor reports. Town trustees have given employees until 5 p.m. Friday, April 19 to turn in more information that is needed.
LaDonna Sinning, of Arledge & Associates P.C., will discuss the fiscal year 2022-2023 audit at the 4 p.m. Thursday, April 11 meeting. Sinning will give direction as deemed appropriate, according to an agenda posted before the meeting. Sinning said Thursday night she thought there were three fundraisers that information is still needed to complete the audits.
Back in December, 2023, it was announced that information was needed to complete an annual audit of Okarche’s 2022-2023 fiscal year finances, according to a list of requests from an auditor on a paper trail.
The annual audit performed by the Edmond-based Arledge & Associates auditor lacks completion of interviews with trustees and police department members. The interviews had not been completed as of Nov. 17, according to a list of needs released to The Okarche Warrior
The “fraud” interviews are a routine part of an audit and are usually conducted at the beginning of the auditor’s work, a town official said.
A letter from Sinning of Arledge & Associates to the Town of Okarche reads:
“We would like to complete the 2022 audit and move forward with completing the 2023 audit so that the Town can work toward timely audits again in the future. However, we are still missing information that was requested last year and again on January 16, 2024. These items are summarized as follows:
Detailed information, including access to all bank or online account records, surrounding fundraising revenue, sticker sales revenue, and contributions and/or donations related to the police department. We can complete the audit without these items, but it is unlikely that we would issue an opinion on the Town’s financial statements and would instead be looking at a Disclaimer of Opinion due to the missing financial information. Please let us know if you would like us to finish the audit as is, or if we should continue to wait on the missing financial information for the Town to be provided by the Police Department.”
According to the list of needs the auditor requested from Okarche, fundraising by the police department is listed as needing review. The auditor’s list of needs was provided to The Okarche Warrior through an open records request.
“Detailed account activity for all bank or online accounts used to collect donations,” was being reviewed, the list of needs reads.
Fundraisers by the police department, “whether the fundraiser be for the Town, for the department, for a nonprofit or for an individual in need,” were requested, according to the list of needs.
There are no complaints about town finances currently, and the audit is a routine annual audit, town trustee Jason Kroener said.
The auditor has requested “personal accounts used including Venmo, Paypal and similar online transactions applications or bank accounts of all types. This should be for the period, July 1, 2021 through the current date,” the list reads.
Also under review is a $116,000 American Rescue Plan Act grant to the town of Okarche in 2022.
Police Chief Forrest Smith said all information requested from the police department has been provided. He said the last large donation to the department was $10,000 to the in 2019 when an insurance company donated body cameras to the officers. He said all records of fundraisers have been provided to the auditor.
Smith said the department in February 2022 helped raise funds for Mended Hearts, a nonprofit that helps children with heart defects. Records of the fundraising have been provided, Smith said.
Other items requested by the auditor include missing phone bills and all bank statements for the town.
The Okarche town trustees at a special meeting in November approved the cost for a fiscal year 2023 audit and the fee for the fiscal year 2022-2023 audit. The fiscal year covers the period from July 1, 2022 to June 20, 2023.
The trustees approved the plan to complete the audits unanimously at their November monthly meeting.
In a letter from Arledge & Associates to the town trustees dated Nov. 10, an update on the audit plans was addressed. The cost of the audit for fiscal year 2023, will be $30,000. The 2022 fiscal year audit cost comes to $30,000.
“As you are aware, our initial goal was to present the final audit (for fiscal year 2022) report at the Dec. 2 board meeting. However, we encountered certain challenges during the audit process,” The letter reads. “These challenges included issues related to the cooperation of some personnel outside of the finance and accounting areas, difficulties in obtaining specific documents held by employees outside of the accounting and finance areas, and the need for a comprehensive research-based approach to move forward. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
The letter from the Edmond-based firm spells out a plan to complete the audit.
“We are pleased to inform you that we have developed a plan for moving forward and anticipate completing the audit in the coming months,” the letter to the town reads. “Our efforts will be focused on finalizing the 2022 audit in early 2024. Following the completion of this audit we will transition into the fiscal 2023 audit, ensuring a more efficient and timely process.
The board unanimously approved accepting the cost of the audit work for 2023 and the cost of the 2022 audit at the regular meeting in November.
