Auditors Meeting Minutes 1.19.26
The Guilford Elected Auditors will meet by zoom on Monday, January 19, at 4 PM.
Meeting began at 4 PM, with Lesley, Lyndsey and Cathi present.
Missing reports include SEVCA, Emergency Management, all financial,, and Town Office reports except for Town Clerk. We had hoped that Reita could help Elly with the financials, and update the Town Officers and inside page of office hours, phone numbers and regular meetings.
Lyndsey wrote up a summary of the Professional Auditors report:
The FY25 Town Audit performed by Mudgett, Jennett & Krogh-Winser has concluded with a critical finding regarding the Town of Guilford’s financial reporting and tax levies.
The audit reveals that the amounts approved by voters in Town Meeting articles for the General Fund budgets in 2024, 2025, and 2026 were lower than the proposed budgets presented in the Annual Reports. This discrepancy resulted in insufficient taxes being raised to fund budgeted expenditures for the following years:
– FY 2024: $237,500 shortfall (recovered via Fund Balance Reserve Fund)
– FY 2025: $140,163 shortfall (though a technical surplus of $5,981 was achieved)
– FY 2026: $246,100 projected shortfall
In total, these deficiencies in internal control resulted in $623,763 in insufficient taxes raised. While FY25 ended in a minor surplus, this was primarily due to $68,000 in unspent funds from Article #10 (Windham County Sheriff services). Please note that voters must present a new article to vote on at Town Meeting for any future expenditures for these services.
The audit report is available on the town website at guilfordvt.gov under “Annual Financial Audits.” These specific details can be found on page 42 of the FY25 Audited Financial Statements.
The budget shortfall was originally thought to be caused by delinquent taxes, however delinquent taxes aren’t considered in the budget. More research was done in Spring of 2025, after a Select Board member noticed the FY24 Reserve Fund Adjustment hadn’t been property voted on and approved.
To address these findings, the Town Administrator and Town Treasurer have outlined corrective steps. Additionally, a detailed PowerPoint presentation explaining the situation and goals moving forward can be viewed here: https://guilfordvt.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Goals-Moving-Forward-Presentation-10.27.25.pdf (https://guilfordvt.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Goals-Moving-Forward-Presentation-10.27.25.pdf)
We encourage all residents to review these documents and reach out with any questions.
We’ll vote on this, and the whole (we hope) report at our next, properly warned, check-in , next Monday at 4 PM
Meeting ended, 4:30 PM.
Meeting Recording: https://youtu.be/PObUFJN39O8