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July 31, 2005Lile suggests shutting down to fix messNew software system will be first moveByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Glen Lile wants to shut down East Bay Township's government for several days so it can get its financial act together. "The thing is, nothing's balanced," said Lile, supervisor of the township in Grand Traverse County. "The right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing." The township's clerk, who kept the township's books and paid its bills, operated on one software system while the treasurer, who collected the taxes and reconciled the bank statements, operated on a separate system. The two were never reconciled, said accountant Sharon Vargo of Plante & Moran in a letter to the township board. Vargo, who oversaw the 2004 audit of the township's books, could not get the township's ledger to balance either for individual funds or for the township as a whole. Lile and two other newcomers to the township board pushed for a new audit of the township books when they took office in November. Plante & Moran discovered discrepancies that eventually led to the arrest of township clerk Jan Gee on charges she embezzled more than $19,000 in taxpayers' money. The township board authorized a special forensic audit to more deeply explore those discrepancies, and a report is expected in the next several weeks. Last week the board received the results of the general audit for 2004 and discovered it ended the year in the red by $47,695. In 2003 and 2004, the previous township board overspent its budget by $515,000 and erased its fund balance, Lile said. "This year is not going to be real good, either. We're seven months through the year and all of sudden we find out we have financial problems," he said. The 2005 budget has a $100,000 contingency fund but Lile said it also appears state revenue sharing will be about $100,000 less than what was budgeted. "There are going to be cuts. I don't know where, but we are going to have to," Lile said. The township will be required to file a plan with the state showing how it intends to get out of debt and back on sound financial footing. That will start by spending almost $3,000 to put the clerk and treasurer on the same software system. "I would like to close the township down when we do it and bring everything up to date so when we open up the doors we know the figures we're looking at are good figures," Lile said. See Related Stories: East Bay Township supervisor expects 'real ugly' meeting - July 22, 2005 East Bay assessor to be paid as fate is determined - July 12, 2005 Errors pile up in review of East Bay records - July 10, 2005 Public backs East Bay probe leading to arrest of clerk - June 28, 2005 East Bay Township clerk charged with embezzlement felonies - June 23, 2005 Township officials pushed for audit leading to Gee's arrest - June 23, 2005
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