Port Jervis Hires Outside Accounting Firm to Straighten Out the Books

The city hall of Port Jervis, NY., on Sept. 5, 2022. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

The Port Jervis City Council voted unanimously on April 22 to hire an outside accounting firm to bring its bookkeeping and bank reconciliations up to date.

Neither the general ledger, which keeps track of the city’s financial transactions, nor the bank reconciliations have been maintained since December 2022, according to the approved city resolution.

At least three municipal funds are affected: general, water, and sewer.

“The significance of this is not knowing completely where our finances are at,” newly elected Port Jervis Mayor Dominic Cicalese told The Epoch Times.

“We know how much money is in our bank accounts per se, but it is general ledger and bank reconciliations that show us how the money got transferred and where it went.”

During bank reconciliation, an entity compares its bookkeeping against its bank accounts and reconciles any differences between them.

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When done correctly and in a timely manner—the state comptroller’s office recommends monthly bank reconciliations for local governments—the practice makes for early detection of errors and fraud.

“The council made a decision that it was necessary to hire an outside firm to assist our employees and get us where we need to be,” Mr. Cicalese said. “We are just hopeful that we can get this straightened out in a short amount of time, and I think we will have a positive outcome.”

Professionals with the hired accounting firm RBT will meet with city representatives in a week or so to hash out a concrete work plan, according to Mr. Cicalese.

The finance committee currently caps the contract with RBT at $10,000, but Mr. Cicalese said the city council could raise the dollar amount as needed.

This has also put the state-mandated sewer realignment project on pause, but Mr. Cicalese said the temporary delay is necessary to safeguard taxpayer money.

“The sewer fund needs to be reconciled, and we do need to see where the finances are with that,” he said, noting that the city crew is still bracing for a project kickoff later this year.

At the finance committee meeting on March 20, a preliminary finding of unaddressed items under former City Clerk and Treasurer Laura Quick was presented. These included five undeposited checks from the past two years, six missing binders of local laws, and multiple unprocessed invoices, according to published meeting minutes.

Ms. Quick resigned from her post about two months ago.