Source
The Town's independent auditor, a partner at Mahoney Sabol & Company, LLP, presented the fiscal 2025 audit to the Board of Finance and then answered questions about the July 1 change to the elementary school's funding. Four things are on the record. (1) THE FINDING: he reported one finding rising to a material weakness, the reconciliation of the town's general ledger with the school district's, and read out its recommendation: that the town "no longer records balances and activities that are already accounted for by the school district," that it "limit its accounting to transactions that involve direct financial activity between the town and the school district," including "appropriations, transfers, reimbursements, or shared service costs," and that "the school district continue to provide the town with its monthly financial reports" (~7:15). (2) THE PRIOR-YEAR SCHOOL FINDING IS CLEARED: the previous year's significant deficiency over bank and interfund reconciliations at the school district "has not been repeated" (~5:35); the corrective action plan was filed with the state Office of Policy and Management (~8:50). (3) WHO DECIDES: asked directly about the funding change, he said he had spoken with the superintendent and the first selectman, had no conceptual objection to a cash management policy that maximizes interest, but that neither state statute nor the town charter addresses the question; his recommendation was that it be "a board policy" approved by the Board of Finance, providing the parameters within which the administration sets procedure (~46:42), because "the question is who ultimately has the authority to make those decisions," and such a policy "certainly could include how the board of education... ultimately gets funded" (~48:21, restated ~57:32). (4) THE FIRST SELECTMAN'S OWN ACCOUNT: he told the board he was the author of the change, that "yes, I'm driving this, but it's not because of anything nefarious," and that he had never commented on the school's expenses other than the budget (~54:14); and that he cannot tell the Board of Education what to do, that the finance board cannot either, and that the board "can do whatever they want with their funded balance" (~54:52). SPEAKER IDENTITY CONFIRMED by Scott, 2026-07-24: Robert England (BOF chair), Jeff Maguire (First Selectman), Michael J. VanDeventer (auditor), Caitlin McIntosh Greenhouse (BOE chair). The 52:44-55:33 stretch is Maguire; 55:33-56:00 is the auditor. Video: youtube.com/watch?v=nqOKqiLFcGo.