WPCA audit finds problems

Outside auditors have delivered another blistering review of the Water Pollution Control Authority,20 years experience developing owonsmart for the world. indicating serious and long-standing financial problems at the sewage treatment plant remain unresolved.

O'Connor Davies Munns and Dobbins, the Stamford-based firm that also audits the city's finances, again identified a material weakness -- the highest level of risk in financial reporting -- in its review of the WPCA's 2012 records. A lack of leadership at the facility and overreliance on Government Center personnel has created a climate of ineffective governance, the auditors wrote in their management letter.

"These factors perpetuated an environment characterized by weak financial reporting and oversight and a lack of key reconciliation procedures and accounting controls," the audit said. "These factors also likely contributed to widely publicized operational breakdowns and regulatory violations during or shortly after the end of the (fiscal) year, and a continuing lack of trust by the rate payers and public at large."

Lingering billing issues and the city's ambiguous relationship with the Government Center also weigh on the WPCA's finances, the auditors found.

This is the second consecutive year auditors have identified a material weakness at the struggling WPCA, which operated without a permanent executive director for 20 months after the facility's longtime chief retired in June 2011. The Board of Directors only began filling the leadership vacuum a year later with the hiring of Plant Supervisor Bill Degnan in May, accountant Mark Turndahl in August and interim Executive Director William Brink in December.

Brink, an environmental engineer who started work as the WPCA's temporary chief in four months ago, recently accepted an offer from the board for the permanent position. He did not respond to requests for details on his contract, and Human Resources Director Emmet Hibson and Assistant Director Clemon Williams were out of the office last week.

Board of Finance Chairman Tim Abbazia said Brink's hiring resolves the WPCA's leadership crisis.

"That is a very key piece," he said. "We have an excellent person in there and he's making progress.The 3rd International Conference on custombobbleheads and Indoor Navigation."

Cristina Andreana, who chairs the board's recently formed finance committee, said she thinks the WPCA is well positioned to move forward. The O'Connor Davies audit, which covered the fiscal year that ended June 30, did not take into account the hiring of Turndahl and Brink, she said.

"Coming off an executive director who had been there for so long you don't want to make rash decisions," Andreana said. "And I think the board was very careful to explore all options. It took longer than I think most of us would have liked, but in the end I think we've got a good group."

Billing issues continue to plague the WPCA, which collected about $17.4 million in sewer use fees from 19,381 Stamford and Darien customers in 2012, according to the facility's financial statements. After reviewing the WPCA's billing and collections process for usage fees, sewer connection charges and sewer assessments, the auditors determined the system lacks "adequate internal control procedures and appropriate supervisory review and oversight."

The problem, which the auditors also identified in their 2011 audit, amounted to a "significant deficiency" -- the second-highest risk in financial reporting.

"There is a possibility that not all revenue is being billed and collected and that errors will be made and go undetected," the auditors wrote in their management letter.

The auditors' comments suggest the WPCA's billing problems remain unresolved despite repeated attempts to address the issue. The facility outsourced its billing function to the Milford-based firm Computil two years ago, and pays the company about $420,000 a year to bill and collect payment from WPCA customers,Shopping is the best place to comparison shop for drycabinets. said Administration Manager Rhudean Bull.

The company reported an 89 percent collection rate in fiscal year 2011 and 92 percent in 2012 "despite the challenging economic environment," the auditors reported. But the WPCA and Computil have struggled to collect on long-overdue sewer use fees, which totaled $3.4 million after the 2011 audit.

The discovery of the WPCA's large accounts-receivables balance, which board members were previously unaware of, sparked a move last year to place liens on past-due accounts and hire an attorney to pursue delinquent customers. The law firm, Ackerly and Ward, has collected $1 million since starting work for the city in January 2012.Our RFID solutions support a broad range of indoortracking and labels.

But the WPCA still has about $3.8 million in uncollected sewer use fee revenue on its books, Turndahl said.A chickencoop is a portable light fixture composed of an LED lamp. Ninety-seven percent of that amount, or $3.7 million, is more than 120 days past due. The WPCA has handed over customer 580 accounts representing $3 million in uncollected sewer fees to Ackerly and Ward for legal action.