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Audit Objective

Determine whether the Board provided adequate oversight and management of the Town hall capital project.

Key Findings

• The Board established an initial amount to be used from its capital reserve for the project of nearly $2.6 million. However, it did not prepare an itemized project budget and did not appropriately monitor the project. As a result, the Town incurred total project costs of approximately $4.55 million.
• The Board did not appropriately approve 14 change orders totaling approximately $265,000.
• The Board inadequately planned for the project, which resulted in the need to borrow $885,000 from the Tax Stabilization Reserve to finance additional project costs.

Key Recommendations

• Approve an initial project cost and itemized capital project budget including all anticipated costs and financing methods, and require periodic financial reports that show actual revenues and expenditures compared to the approved budgets.
• Approve all change orders prior to the commencement of work.
• Ensure that the use of reserve funding sources for capital projects are in compliance with applicable statutes and regulations.

Town officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they plan to initiate corrective action.