City of Ashton

Reporting Criteria – According to the Letter of Condition for United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans entered into by the City, quarterly income and expense statements are required to be submitted within 30 days of each quarter’s end. Annual financial statements are to be submitted within 60 days of the fiscal year end. Annual budgets are to be submitted 30 days prior to the start of the fiscal year. Reports and other information are to document evidence of independent review. Condition – (1) The annual financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2023, were submitted 63 days late. (2) The annual budget for fiscal year 2023-2024 was submitted seven days late. (3) Although procedures were in place for review of reports and other information submitted, there was no documentation of the review. Cause – Policies and procedures have not been established to require reports and other information to be submitted timely and include documentation of the independent review. Effect – The lack of established policies and procedures resulted in the late submissions of the required reports and other information and lack of documentation of an independent review of the reports. Recommendation – The City should establish policies and procedures to ensure all reports and other information are submitted timely in accordance with the Letter of Condition and an independent review of the reports and other information is documented by the signature or initials of the reviewer and the date of the review. Response and Corrective Action Planned – The annual budget for fiscal year 2023-2024 was submitted late due to a computer crash. The computer had to be repaired so the report could not be completed until the computer was repaired and returned. All reports will be initialed and dated to show independent review and will be timely submitted from now on. Conclusion – Response accepted.