Century Votes To Hire Hollywood, Florida, Auditing Firm

February 29, 2024

The Town of Century has hired a Hollywood, Florida, firm to complete the town’s required annual audit to submit to the state.

HCT Certified Public Accountants and Consultants, LLC (HCT) will charge $34,840 to audit the FY2023 ending September 30, 2023, according to a three-year proposal that totaled $104,510. The council, however, voted to hire the firm for just one year and negotiate any agreement going forward.

Interim Town Manager Howard Brown solicited proposals from HCT and Mauldin & Jenkins of Bradenton, Florida. Mauldin’s proposed fee was $58,700 for FY2023 and $61,000 for FY2024.

HCT has or is providing several government agencies across Florida, including Coral Springs, Dania Beach, Hollywood, Lauderhill, Miami, North Miami and Tampa, according to their proposal.

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 of each year.Century has filed their audits late every year for about a decade. Each audit has found financial issues that repeat for several years without being rectified.

Century’s previous auditing firm, Warren Averett CPAs and Advisors of Pensacola, chose not to renew when their contract expired last year. Warren Averett’s other local government clients include Escambia County, the City of Pensacola, City Milton and Santa Rosa County. Brown said the town did not wish to hire Warren Averett again.

The Town of Century’s audit for the previous fiscal year  shows the town is again in deteriorating financial condition.

The audit, which was due June 30, 2023, was not received and posted by the state until early 2024.

According to the 2021-2022 fiscal year audit, as of September 30, 2022:

  • The Town’s overall financial condition demonstrates signs of a deteriorating financial condition described by Florida statute. Overall factors contributing to this condition include lack of short- and long-term financial planning, improper cash management activities and lack of analysis of existing tax rates and fee structures for proprietary operations. The local option sales tax revenues recorded in the special revenue fund are restricted for specific purposes; therefore, these funds will have to be repaid or it will be considered an inappropriate use of the restricted revenues. The town has experienced recurring operating deficits in the natural gas fund causing cash shortages.
  • There was a deficit of $2.7 million in the town’s general fund and $1.9 million in the natural gas fund. Both of these funds have borrowed significant amounts from other funds of the town. The general fund and natural gas fund owed the special revenue fund approximately $2.8 million and $212,000, respectively. In June 2018, the council approved a repayment plan of $300 per month for the interfund loan between the general fund and special revenue fund.
  • The town experienced the following cash management issues during the fiscal year, with inadequate funds held for customer deposits in the natural gas fund, and inadequate funds were held for required debt service reserves in the natural gas fund.
  • The town did not properly reconcile multiple general ledger accounts as of year end. The town’s general ledger accounts should be reconciled monthly to detail subsidiary ledgers, and any reconciling items be promptly investigated and adjusted, and adequate supporting documentation for the adjustments be maintained.
  • The town may have assets that have not been correctly recorded in the Town’s records, and there may be assets recorded on the Town’s records that are no longer in use or cannot be located. The town had not completed an inventory of assets on hand.
  • A list of deficiencies and problems were also identified, many repeated from previous years.

Comments

5 Responses to “Century Votes To Hire Hollywood, Florida, Auditing Firm”

  1. Mike on February 29th, 2024 10:42 am

    Yes, of course, the accounting firm was the problem—thank goodness the new mayor and town manager have saved the day.

  2. Thomas Paine on February 29th, 2024 9:28 am

    There’s little chance it’s just a coincidence that all the newly hired firms, procurement and advisors for the town come out of the hat of Century’s manager from South Florida. One has to ask if there are kick backs, cronyism and nepotism at play here.

    The third world junta that runs Century thinks the populace doesn’t see through their fog of incompetence and they really don’t care if it’s obvious or not but hopefully the state government will come in and end this hullabaloo which taints our institutions of democracy and good governance.

    Draining the swamp starts at the local level and it’s time the Florida AG office clear
    The log jam of corruption and drain this swamp.

  3. same ol same ol on February 29th, 2024 9:20 am

    Let’s see if I got this right…

    The last audit showed (at least) misfeasance, lack of planning, etc.

    and, surprise the former auditor “chose not to renew” the contract.

    So now a new auditor signs on…more from south FL…?

    …smells like grift

  4. SW on February 29th, 2024 9:11 am

    Wow! Deteriorating financial condition; but, hiring every kind of person or entity?

    Looks like looting. Folks getting all they can before the building is empty.

  5. Chris on February 29th, 2024 8:17 am

    For a broke town, they sure do spend a lot of money.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News