Friday, Feb. 18, 2005

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DAPC may seek city help for bookkeeping, accounting

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

As it works to get its finances back in order, the Development Authority of Peachtree City may ask the city to handle its bookkeeping services for a fee.

The authority established a committee at its regular meeting Tuesday night to look into the matter. A new checking account has been opened at Wachovia Bank as the authority wants to separate the bills it owes from those complied during the former authority’s operation when it oversaw the tennis center and amphitheater.

The DAPC would still retain full oversight of its funds if the city handled the bookkeeping, suggested authority treasurer Tyler Duffy. The authority could review its invoices monthly and would still have check-signing power, Duffy suggested.

The top priority is making sure the books are in order so when a citizen asks to see them, everything will be on the up-and-up, Duffy said.

“I want to keep our accounting and bookkeeping squeaky-clean,” Duffy said.

While Duffy said he thinks there was no ill intent among previous authority members, he indicated the financial transition to the current authority has been less than easy. The previous authority’s financial reporting had deficient internal controls which could lead to “undetected misappropriation of funds or delays in finding other potential errors or irregularities,” according to the city’s audit report for the 2002-2003 fiscal year.

It will be relatively easy for the city to cut checks and do other book keeping duties for the authority since that’s what the city’s financial officers already do, Duffy noted. He lauded City Finance Director Paul Salvatore and Assistant Finance Director Janet Camburn for working closely with him to figure out the authority’s financial status.

“I really feel like with the help of the city that things are getting organized,” Duffy said.

Duffy and authority member David Miller will work together on the committee to further investigate the possibility. It’s important for the authority to maintain independent oversight over its finances, Miller said.

Duffy and Miller will try to devise an intergovernmental agreement for the service that will ultimately be considered by the City Council.

Duffy reported that outstanding invoices total an estimated $32,130, and the authority is closing in on its $35,000 budget set by the City Council. A significant part of the cost is legal fees, totaling just over $25,000.

The spike in legal fees is related to lawsuits filed over the city’s refusal to pay off the debt incurred by previous authority members for construction and operations of the tennis center and amphitheater, which the authority formally managed. Now both venues are operated by the Peachtree City Tourism Association.

“We’re not broke, but it’s obvious we’re going to have to be very judicious with our remaining money this year,” Duffy said.

The authority is still in the process of determining what the status is of several bank accounts the previous authority opened, Duffy noted.

In other business, the authority also discussed the possibility of piggybacking on the city’s audit and financial statements in a bid to save some money. Because the DAPC is considered part of the city, its financial statements will be included with the city’s audit anyway, Duffy noted.

It is not clear how much the potential cost savings could be, Duffy added.

The authority also discussed possible content for a web site under development by a coalition of city agencies in an effort to create a unified presence on the Internet.