Wayland auditor delivers clean FY22 opinion, flags repeat cash and new deposit findings

WAYLAND — February 21, 2023 — Wayland's FY22 audit comes back clean but flags $660,000 in untracked contractor deposits. Alina Korsak of Melanson presented the draft Annual Comprehensive Financial Report to the Audit Committee on Feb. 21 with an unmodified opinion and a general fund unassigned balance of $13,729,922, or 15.5 percent of expenditures. The management letter again cites cash reconciliation as a material weakness, but Finance Director Brian Keveney said the treasurer is now caught up through November 2022 and the finding should not recur. A new comment targets guaranteed deposits held across four departments with no records of who is owed the money — including one vendor seeking the return of more than $50,000 deposited a decade ago. "We don't know who we owe the money to," Keveney said. Incoming Town Manager Michael McCall starts Feb. 28, inheriting a fiscal 2024 budget burdened by $1.7 million increases in both out-of-district SPED tuition and debt service. Chair Klaus Shigley reported only three of 11 peer towns maintain audit committees.