Lansdale Borough Hall. Photo by James Short.
Staff say software shift, staff turnover were reasons for delays
The finish line is coming closer for Lansdale Borough to finish two long-delayed financial audits.
“We expect to get an unqualified opinion in the next two weeks,” said Finance Director Christopher Shannon.
“Right after that, they’re going to do 2024, and ’24 should be an easy follow because all of the issues were in ’23,” he said.
In September borough officials gave an update on delays to the two most recent financial audits for the town, the reasons they remain incomplete, and a timeline for resolving both while budget talks are ongoing this fall for 2026. Those delays were caused by several factors, Shannon told the town’s administration and finance committee on Oct. 1, including the departures of key finance department personnel, combined with a change in software used by that department, and changes to where certain bank accounts were held.
“It created some level of havoc, the implementation didn’t go well in terms of moving from the old software to the new software, and that kind of morphed into a much larger problem,” Shannon said.
“By the time it was realized, beyond the small financial group that they had here, it was in a position where it needed a lot of work and effort by consultants to come in and help them go back and redo ’23. The 2023 audit is basically done now,” he said.
Once the auditor issues the formal 2023 report, staff will begin working on the 2024 version, which Shannon said he hopes will go “relatively quickly” and could be done by the end of calendar year 2025, just in time to start the process of auditing that year once those books are closed and 2026 begins.
“And then we’ll start on 2025, and then we’ll be right up to where we need to be, in terms of completing our audits,” he said.
“We’ve done a great job in this year, in ’25, of not making those same mistakes, the software system has been around for a while now, so people are more comfortable with it. We should see ’26 as a good budget year, and no audit problems,” Shannon said.
Resident Carole Farrell asked where and how the borough would pay for roughly $200,000 in consultant fees meant to straighten out the past two audits, and borough Manager John Ernst said those expenses have largely been paid already; a bill for just over $24,000 to auditing firm Maillie LLP, the firm that performs the audits each year, was included in the bills approved by council on Oct. 1.
Committee chair Carrie Oglesby added that the expense would be partly offset by not having those staff positions filled while the consultants were needed, and said the borough has recently hired Judi Lumis, who held a similar position in Manheim Township in Lancaster County, as the town’s new assistant finance director.
“She has extensive auditing and municipal work experience, and she actually also, as a bonus, knows our software very well. So we’re thrilled to have her on board,” Oglesby siad.
Before the end of 2025, one more unbudgeted expense has also been requested, and could be up for further discussion: the Lansdale Public Library has requested an additional $130,000 due to “a couple of issues going on,” Oglesby said. The administration and finance committee did vote ahead a $55,000 allocation for full council approval later this month, which should be enough to cover library operating expenses and salaries through November, and the rest could be discussed then.
“We’ll have another discussion to see where we are, if we’ve had any fundraisers come in, and then we’ll have a better picture of how we need to end the year, with the library,” Oglesby said.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Oct. 11 and the administration and finance committee next meets at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 all at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information visit www.Lansdale.org.
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