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Audit Objective

Determine whether the Town Board (Board) effectively managed the Town of Milo’s (Town) financial condition.

Key Findings

The Board did not effectively manage the Town’s financial condition. More real property taxes and user fees were levied than needed to fund operations.

• The Board did not adopt realistic budgets for each of its funds from 2017 through 2020, multiyear financial and capital plans or the following policies:
  • Fund Balance
  • Reserve
  • Budgeting
• As of December 31, 2020, the general, highway and water funds unrestricted fund balances were excessive, ranging from 97 percent to 178 percent of 2020 expenditures.

Key Recommendations

• Include more realistic estimates of revenues and expenditures when developing and adopting the annual budgets.
• Use surplus funds as a financing source for funding one-time expenditures, needed reserves and/ or reducing real property taxes.
• Establish budgeting, fund balance and reserve policies and develop multiyear financial and capital plans.

Town officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.