It’s another clean and unmodified audit for the city of Benton Harbor. City commissioners on Tuesday heard from Paul Matz of the auditing firm Rehman Robson, who presented the annual audit for the fiscal year ending last June. Matz said clean and unmodified is the best kind of audit. He did note there were some concerns about income tax payments being taken directly through the treasurer’s window at city hall.
“We did not observe that taking place at all while we were on site, and through the discussions and the inquiries we made with staff and the contracted accounting firm, we were not aware of any issues of that taking place.”
Matz said the audit recommended steps be taken to limit the number of stale checks on the outstanding check list, and to segregate more duties when it comes to collecting the city income tax. He added progress on those fronts has already been made. Matz also said the general fund balance has been increased by $1.5 million in the past year, thanks to the income tax. It now stands at $5.9 million.
