Ronan receives clean audit
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RONAN — Town officials and employees were joyous last week, as the City of Ronan received its first clean audit in many years.
“I was really excited about it,” City Clerk Kaylene Melton said of the 2013 audit.
For the past seven years Melton and Deputy Clerk Lorraine Bourdon have worked to unravel a financial mess that was left by their predecessor.
Melton said when she first took the job in 2006, important city documents were found tossed haphazardly in plastic bins with no rhyme or reason.
“It was a nightmare,” Melton said. “We couldn’t find documentation of anything ... The first couple of audits were terrible.”
Slowly the duo worked through the problems, organized the office and learned the complex system of accounting requirements, so that the 2013 audit “was a piece of cake,” according to Bourdon.
Auditor Jennifer Cote said that though the city now owns software that helps clerks document transactions, operating the system can be difficult.
“The software is complicated software and the difference is always been understanding how certain things need to go into the software, and understanding the underlying accounting that’s going on,” Cote said.
Cote said hard work by Ronan’s employees shows.
“Kaylene and Lorraine have really gotten on top of it,” Cote said.
If the city receives another clean audit next year it can qualify for lower interest rates on loans, Cote said.
Mayor Kim Aipperspach said he was pleased with the outcome of the audit.
