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Century’s Financial Audit Will Be Late For The Fifth Straight Year In Violation Of State Law
June 6, 2019
The Town of Century’s Annual Financial Report, often referred to simply as an audit, will be late in violation of state law for the fifth straight year.
The legal deadline for submitting the Annual Financial Report, often referred to simply as an audit, to the Florida Department of Financial Services is June 30. But after a series of missteps, the town did not even hire an auditor until this week to do the report that’s due in about three weeks.
At a meeting this week, Hawkins said he had still not hired the auditing firm because he disagreed with a price increase, but primarily because the council had not given him the necessary approval to sign the engagement letter, which is a type of contract with a CPA firm.
Council President Ann Brooks this week said the council had previously voted to accept the increase and authorize the mayor to sign the agreement.
“They voted to accept, but they did not authorize me to sign it,” Hawkins said.
Council member Ben Boutwell then made a motion to authorize the mayor to sign the agreement, and Brooks seconded it. Council member James Smith, first up on the roll call vote, voted “no”,
“You know this is by law that we have to have an audit,” Boutwell said.
“Yeah, but he just said that there’s something he (Hawkins) feels that there’s something that needs to be addressed,” Smith said. After Hawkins told council members to go ahead and vote in favor of him signing the agreement, Smith changed his vote.
“What we have to do is take this harsh lesson that we have to make sure it’s done properly ahead of time,” Smith said.
Mayor Never Received Authority To Hire Auditor
At their last meeting in May, council members learned that the auditor disagreed with claims by Mayor Henry Hawkins as to why the audit had not started for this year, and the council learned for the first time publicly that the town had yet to sign an agreement to hire the auditing firm.
A check of a NorthEscambia.com audio recording of the May 20 meeting confirmed Hawkin’s claim that the council did not give him approval to sign off on the auditor’s contract.
“Can we have a motion to authorize our auditor to proceed with the audit at a minimum fee of $30,000?”, Brooks asked during that meeting. The motion was made by council member Ben Boutwell to pay the $30,000 fee to the auditing firm, up from $21,000 last year.
“I would think you have to vote to authorize the mayor or the clerk to sign the engagement letter,” accountant Robert Hudson advised the the council.
“Any other questions before we vote?”, Brooks asked. The original motion was not amended before being passed unanimously after several minutes of discussion and did not give the signature authority to the mayor.
“Let the records show that we’ve decided to take $9,000 from CTA (funds received from the town’s Capital Trust Agency partnership) and put it with the $21,000 budgeted for the audit,” Brooks said after the May 20 vote.
Why Didn’t The Auditor Start Months Ago, And Why The $9,000 Fee Increase?
Century’s annual audit will cost thousands of dollars more due to several factors, including a scathing grand jury investigation, and the mayor tell did not inform the council for weeks, as NorthEscambia.com learned and first reported last month.
The town was informed in an April 8 email sent to Mayor Henry Hawkins, Town Clerk Kim Godwin, and town CPA Robert Hudson that the auditing firm Warren Averett was increasing their fee from $21,000 last year to a minimum of $30,000 this year.
Hawkins repeatedly told the town council over the last several weeks that the firm would begin the audit after tax season, but he never mentioned receiving any communication from the auditor or the $9,000 fee increase to the council. In the meantime, the audit did not begin due to a lack of an engagement letter (a type of contract with a CPA firm).
But an email obtained by NorthEscambia.com shows Hawkins forwarded the auditor’s email to Chief Deputy Clerk of Finance Kristina Wood on April 9. “FYI,” Hawkins wrote. “Now where do they think we’re getting the money from?”
CPA Kristen McAllister of Warren Averett said in a May 20 email to Town Council President Ann Brooks, “I do not think you have been informed correctly. I reach out to the Clerk, Mayor, and Robert (Hudson) a month ago to discuss a change in the audit contract before we can begin.” She added the delay “did not have anything to do with waiting until after tax season”.
McAllister said the higher audit fee was due to concerns over the utility billing cycle, concerns noted in the grand jury report, incorrect information provided that required multiple adjustments in the past two audits and a failure to follow the audit timeline.
For a previous story with details on the March grand jury report, click here.
Century’s Late Financial Report Submission History
Century’s last five audits were submitted to the state as follows:
- The 2016-2017 report due June 30, 2018, was completed August 10, 2018.
- The 2015-2016 report due June 30, 2017, was completed October 31, 2017.
- The 2014-2015 report due June 30, 2016, was completed February 15, 2017
- The 2013-2014 report due June 30, 2015, was completed November 17, 2015.
- The 2012-2013 audit was completed on time on June 30, 2014.
Pictured: This week’s meeting of the Century Town Council. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
24 Responses to “Century’s Financial Audit Will Be Late For The Fifth Straight Year In Violation Of State Law”
The town of Century died years ago, so now its time to dissolve the town charter and make it official.
No surprise at all here. You got what you elected…..the crime of the CENTURY!!
With as much misfeance that goes on in Century….why don’t they just have a municipal recall election?
Um because the real mayor was voted out
Maybe we should check with the old boys down at Odoms and see if they might have run across the statements down there????
@ Ruthie: I believe when His Imperial Majesty Hawkins was running for this office he painted a completely different picture. Let’s not forget that Henry Hawkins is a former council member who ran unsuccessfully for council in 2007 and mayor in 2011. He was pretty adamant about the good ole boy mayor he replaced. Seems like it’s gone full circle now.
So I feel bad for the Century citizens that are literally watching the town fall apart. If you actually voted for this imbecile, then you got what you asked for.
Seemed they would have reported Century is in financial emergency. Didn’t they meet the guidelines when the taxes were not paid to IRS? Shouldn’t they notify the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee and the Governor and reported the cost of the audit was not covered in the budget and it is time for the state to set up an over site board to transfer utilities as recommended by the State Grand Jury and also the League if Cities?
How will they ever repay the misappropriation of funds from the special funds and reserves.
Why are they not taking the appropriate recommended actions?
AND STORY GO’S ON , AS THE TOWN TURN ‘ THIS THE BEST SOAP OPERA TO READ THEN WATCHING TV. HOW LONG BEFORE WE KNOW WHO’S IS GOING TO JAIL? EACH DAY IT’S GETTING BIGGER AND BIGGER JOKE !!!!!
chris on June 6th, 2019 9:20 am So, by the logic of His Emperor Hawkins, if you disagree with a rate increase, just ignore any further action. Pout until you get your way. I honestly pity the citizens of Century that have to have this ignorant buffoon as their leader.
Chris, I pity the people who keep electing this man! Century needs to be closed down and incorporated in to Pensacola. They are obviously ALL incompetent, and the people just keep enabling them!
I noticed this is just another article where the Mayor’s side of the story does not line up with reality. Why does the mayor have a problem with honesty and getting his facts straight? His side of the story is always different from everyone else.
What would happen to the Town of Century if Council President Ann Brooks resigned?
I see the mayor is reluctant to be proactive in signing for the required audit without specific Council approval with a vote, yet he did not mind buying a bunch of airline tickets without their approval! I guess he now has religion!
Two weeks wasted on a technicality(someone knew the mayor needed approval
to sign contract yet noone corrected it…) ……..almost got delayed further because of matters already settled ie cost increase of $9000. If mayor still had concerns he had since April according to email to address it.
Another concerning matter….mayor and council are two separate entities….mayor is not the council boss….some on the council can’t seem to understand that. You don’t wait for a cue from the mayor before you vote a certain way. Council must debate and then each individual must decide what is best then vote.
So, by the logic of His Emperor Hawkins, if you disagree with a rate increase, just ignore any further action. Pout until you get your way. I honestly pity the citizens of Century that have to have this ignorant buffoon as their leader.
Do any of these people have a list in front of them when they have these meeting? Do any of them have a clue? The accounting firm deserves every dime it they can come up with a balanced sheet for this mess.
I sure wouldn’t be drinking the water either….jus sayin
Century is begging to be closed down. Cant the State of Florida see that.
Rename the Town of Century to the “Town of Misfits”. The town needs to hold a vote of no confidence and send it to the Governor, every day is a circus show.
What a dysfunctional bunch. The mayor and town council never miss a beat with their ability to entertain. To bad their constituents are the ones who suffer from their antics.
pitiful! our city government is dysfunctional.
I wonder if the audit will uncover how many of these people sitting around the table were getting “free” utilities prior to that mistake coming to light.
Standards, what an evil, subjective concept.
FYI,,,, and where do they think we are getting the money from?
Lets see, how about the rent from the empty building? Nope
And on and on and on. If we hear about all of this in the news can you imagine how much goes on we never know about?
The best place to get the money from would be salaries of the Mayor and City Councel. Please someone help us clean up this embarrasment. How long must this go on?
The incompetence and malfeasance abounds.
It’s as if there is an ongoing challenge to out-do each prior event.
why did they start turning them in late in 2015?