Town Hall Notes: 2009 Financial Audit Finally Finished

Though still playing catch-up, the Town of Riverhead has finally received a certified independent audit of its books for 2009, which, in turn, followed the completion in January of an audit for 2008, both conducted by the Hauppauge-based certified public accounting firm AVZ.

With the two overdue audits in hand, the town should now be able to access the bond market, something it hasn’t been able to do for nearly two years, according to Supervisor Sean Walter.

Walter’s comments came Thursday after AVZ partner Jeff Davoli conducted a walkthrough of the latest audit at a Town Board work session, at which he committed to having a 2010 audit finished by Nov. 30 of this year, which would then put the town only a few months behind schedule.

The town began falling behind in its audits in April of 2006, when long-time financial director Jack Hansen went on sick leave. His illness and subsequent death left the town without a full-time finance director for more than a year until current financial administrator Bill Rothaar was hired.

Despite the late audits, Rothaar said that the rating agency Standard & Poor’s indicated last week that it would most likely maintain the town’s rating of AA minus and issue a stable outlook for the town’s finances, a prospect that Walter described as “huge” in terms of being able issue debt on favorable terms.

Walter said the town hopes to issue $24 million in bonds this summer to replenish general funds used to pay for capping the Youngs Avenue landfill, upgrading several water district pumping stations and purchasing a building on Pulaski Street for new office space after a flood at Town Hall forced several departments to move out of the basement.

Jack Orben, a retired investment executive from Aquebogue, was on hand for Thursday’s audit discussion, volunteering his services as a financial advisor.

Walter said he would like to appoint Orben to a new financial audit advisory committee he has proposed creating through a Town Board resolution. 

Another candidate he has in mind for what he hopes will be a three-person board is Bob Dick, a retired executive vice president at Suffolk National County Bank.

Firm begins EPCAL market analysis

Craig Seymour, managing partner of RKG, briefed the Town Board Thursday on the market analysis the town has hired his firm to conduct as part of a broader effort to attract economic development and job creation to the town-owned Enterprise Park at Calverton.

He said part of his assignment will be to assess what the demand is at present and will be in the future for different types of land uses. In other words, he said, he will determine what there is and will be a market for at the 2,900-acre former Grumman facility that has seen its share of proposals that failed to get anywhere.

The town signed a $47,500 contract with RKG in May. Its output will supplement work already begun by another consulting firm, VHB, which the town hired in January for $450,000 to prepare an environmental impact statement, write new zoning codes and, ultimately, draw up plans for subdividing the Grumman property into smaller parcels.