To The Telegram:
Wisconsin requires certified public accountants to be licensed. Prior to writing my letter that was published by the Telegram on July 29, I referenced the state Department of Regulation and Licensing web-site and found that Kerry Drew is not licensed as a CPA in the State of Wisconsin.
I requested from the Clerk-Treasurer a copy of the complete audit report for each of the eight years that a CPA audit was not conducted. The following audit letter for 2007 is representative of each of the prior years:
February 25, 2008
To the Town Board, Town of Wascott,
ADVERTISEMENT
An audit review has been completed of the records and financial transactions of the Town of Wascott for the year ended December 31, 2007.
The review was made in accordance with applicable and sufficient tests to determine reasonable assurance that the information contained in the records is a fair and accurate presentation of financial standing.
The recordings are consistent with the preceding year.
There are no material transactions that have not been properly recorded by the Treasurer/Clerk.
Respectfully,
Kerry E. Drew
Public Accountant
In each of the 32 years that I worked for county government in this state my records were audited by a CPA firm. Never have I seen an audit report consisting of 4 one sentence paragraphs. The old saying "You get what you pay for" comes to mind when town records show that the town paid $200 to audit revenues of $1.6 million and expenditures of $1.5 million for 2007.
ADVERTISEMENT
The little known statute that Chairman Bernie Bergman refers to in his letter published Aug. 6 is §60.43 which, in the statutes is the next page after §60.40 regarding the town's responsibility to adopt an annual budget. The town has never made the mistake of not adopting a budget and levying taxes.
The Town of Wascott violated the law for eight years. It is up to the judicial system to decide if the town's conduct was intentional or simply a mistake.
-- Janice Newsome,
Wascott
