Collins Refusal to Terminate Current Contract Likely Cost County $140,000 This Year
Erie County, NY—Today, Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz announced that the Audit Committee for Erie County has selected Drescher & Malecki, LLP to perform Erie County’s Annual Audit for the next three years (ending December 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013) with the possible extension for 2014 and 2015.
Based on Dresher & Malecki’s winning bid, this new contract will save Erie County $369,525 (with the possibility of even greater savings if extended the additional two years) when compared to the final three years (2008, 2009 and 2010) of the current contract with Deloitte & Touche, LLP.
“I am pleased to announce that Drescher & Malecki has been selected as the County’s new independent auditor, which, over the next three years, will save Erie County taxpayers nearly $370,000,” said Poloncarz. “Going from one single bid for the County’s audit contract in 2005 to six bids for this contract shows the accounting community has noticed the work the Comptroller’s Office has done to put Erie County back on sound financial footing after the ‘Red-Green’ fiscal crisis and they want to do business with us again. Simply put, more competition means more savings for Erie County taxpayers.”
Poloncarz also noted that he reached out to the Collins administration in late 2010 to recommend terminating the final year of the Deloitte contract in order to re-bid and get better terms for the 2010 audit. However, the administration rejected the comptroller’s recommendation and, because termination requires the consent of both the comptroller and county executive, nothing was done. If they agreed and the prior contract was terminated a year early, Erie County could have likely saved an additional $140,000 this year.
“A hallmark of Chris Collins has been to ignore any idea that he didn’t come up with first, even if it would result in significant cost savings to the County. In this case, his refusal to agree with me wasted about $140,000 that could have gone towards the auditors, librarians, or rodent control officers he said we didn’t have enough money to keep,” added Poloncarz.
Two previous Requests for Proposals (“RFP”) have solicited bidders for the County’s annual audit contract over the past decade (1999 and 2005) resulting in a total of three responses (two in 1999 and one in 2005). Of the six CPA firms responding this year, three submitted letters of refusal declining to bid on the 2005 RFP.
Since taking office in January 2006, Poloncarz’s sound financial decisions have lead to a four step increase in Erie County’s credit rating from Wall Street rating agencies Fitch Ratings (BBB- to A) and Moody’s (Baa3 to A2) as well as a downgrade of the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority’s status from “Control” to “Advisory.”
As established by the Erie County Charter, the County is required to submit itself to an annual audit, performed by an independent firm selected by the Audit Committee for Erie County. The independent auditor verifies the accuracy of Erie County’s financial statements, which include all expenditures and revenues. Erie County has an annual budget of approximately $1.5 billion, which is used to provide daily services to its more than 900,000 residents.
The Audit Committee for Erie County is a non-partisan body established to select the independent auditors for both Erie County and Erie Community College. Additionally, this body meets with the selected independent auditor to discuss their findings and recommendations, while issuing its own report to the Erie County Executive, Comptroller and Legislature. The Committee is comprised of five volunteer representatives from: the banking community, local CPA community, WNY Bar Association, and one appointee each, chosen by the Majority and Minority of the Erie County Legislature. The Deputy Erie County Comptroller-Audit serves as an ex officio member of the committee.
For a copy of the RFP, please click here: http://www2.erie.gov/comptroller/index.php?q=22811-poloncarz-announces-request-proposals-conduct-annual-erie-county-audit