Audit gives E. Bruns. positive report for ’04
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK — An audit of the township for 2004 showed some blemishes, but no serious flaws.

This was the first time the accounting firm of Hodulik & Morrison, Highland Park, performed the annual municipal audit for East Brunswick. The firm gave the township a good review and said the township’s professional staff was very cooperative with the audit.

However, some minor problems did show up, and Councilwoman Christi Calvano said she believes officials were downplaying a problematic area.

The report noted that “several appropriation accounts were maintained in negative account status.” The report also said the township’s info-tech system “should not allow for the posting of transactions that result in negative account status.”

Hodulik & Morrison recommended that the township make sure no accounts are kept in a negative status.

During his presentation at last week’s Township Council meeting, Andrew Hodulik said the accounts were not over-expended, just that monies were deposited into the wrong accounts. Therefore, the problem was of an accounting nature.

Still, Calvano was unimpressed.

“It seems to be a pretty serious problem,” she said.

After questioning from Calvano, Hodulik said more than 300 line items had been examined and less than 1 percent had that problem.

“There’s no material weakness in the system,” he said.

The firm did recommended a review of the system, though.

Mayor William Neary said the number of problematic line items was small compared to the overall number of items in the budget.

Calvano also asked why the audit was done late. Usually, they are presented by September of the year after the one being audited.

Hodulik said the township’s prior auditor had “backed out at the last minute,” and that his firm was trying to do a thorough job and to make a good first impression.

According to the comments made at the end of the audit, Hodulik and Morrison found issues that needed correction in a number of other areas, including the municipal court, finance office and tax office. Regarding the municipal court, the report found that traffic tickets were missing and duplicate deposit bank slips were not returned to the court to indicate deposits made.

The report also said a review of the debit/credit account showed that “cash reconciliations were not performed on a monthly basis,” and bank deposits not verified on a timely basis. The report recommended the debit/credit account of the court be reconciled on a monthly basis.

As for the finance office, it was found that proceeds other than those scheduled were used to pay off bond anticipation notes.

Councilman David Stahl asked that Township Business Administrator James White report back to the council about what can be done to correct those matters.