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After lots of questions from residents about why its financial audits were delayed, the Portola Valley Town Council has hired Maze & Associates, to conduct the financial audits for the fiscal years of 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Both audits from the Pleasant Hill-based accounting firm will amount to $88,000. The firm will also provide the town with feedback on how the town can improve and prepare for future finance reports.
During the March 27 council meeting, Town Manager Sharif Etman acknowledged that the town is behind on financial audits and that he has been transparent about the timeline for each audit.
“We don’t have an audit problem per se, we have a timeliness problem,” responded Etman to Council member Mary Hufty’s question about the town’s audit problems. “We as a town did not submit our reports on time and that is what the auditors are reporting on.”
Hufty pointed out that the town may have “an audit oversight problem,” despite the town having a Finance and Audit Committee and suggested that there be a separate committee that handles financial audits. The council plans to come back to the topic to discuss in the future.
During public comment, Portola Valley resident Rita Comes questioned why the town had not gotten its audits completed at the same time when the 2020 audits were done in 2023.
“The onus is on our town that these audits and the year end financials did not get done,” said Comes. “But moving forward, we should have an audit committee separate from the finance committee. If we were to look at the government guidelines they should be separate.”
Upcoming budget study session
On April 24 from 5:30-7 p.m., Etman will be holding a budget study session to discuss the town’s financial viability while touching on finances and challenges.
“I think it’s a very important meeting that we need to discuss, attend, and it’ll be one of many meetings in the future,” said Etman. “This is part one of many meetings over many years that will talk about this financial viability and making sure we have the right model.”
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