MARLBORO — While making recommendations as to how the municipality can improve its financial practices, auditor Thomas Fallon determined that "the town is in good financial condition and things with the current administration and the CFO are going in a positive direction."
Fallon has been auditing Marlboro for about four years.
Among the recommendations he made in a recent report to the Township Council, Fallon said Marlboro should "reconcile amounts due the Monmouth County Improvement Authority Capital Lease Program from previous years and in the future submit for expenditure reimbursements on a timely basis."
According to Fallon, this refers to a lease agreement made several years ago in which Marlboro was reimbursed for purchases made under a lease agreement.
"When the township submitted for a reimbursement, they submitted in duplicate some items," the auditor explained. "So they have to pay back the money they owe."
Such a capital lease agreement is made every other year and the town has been working with the improvement authority to reconcile this, Fallon said.
"My suggestion was that they pay back all the money on schedule," he said.
Another recommendation made by the auditor was that "adequate cash funding be in place prior to commitments being placed against ordinances."
According to Fallon, this is concerning a bond ordinance from 1992 that still remains to be funded.
"They have been raising this money in their budget and are going to fund this over the next several budget years," Fallon said. "Everything else since then has been funded properly. I don’t know how this one slipped through."
There were 11 recommendations in all, five of which were repeated from the township’s 2000 audit.
Other recommendations made by Fallon advise "that all departments receive a signed and dated receipt from the finance department when turning over daily deposits;" "that cumulative financial activity maintained by the Swim Pool Utility personnel be reconciled to the general ledger and revenue transaction audit trail;" and "that the police department deposit all firearms receipts within 48 hours as required by statute."
Fallon labeled most of the recommendations as "housekeeping items" and said Marlboro’s "internal controls are accurate."
"One can always be better," the auditor explained. "So these recommendations are for the town to strengthen their control even further."
According to the audit, Marlboro ended 2001 with a fund balance of $8.1 million. This is one-third of the 2002 operating budget, putting the town in a strong financial condition, said Fallon, noting that the tax collection rate of 98.86 percent for 2001 was also a positive sign for the town’s financial picture.
— Jeanette M. Eng