Uniontown Downtown Business District Authority questions audit pricing
UNIONTOWN — Several members of the city’s Downtown Business District Authority questioned what they think was a comparatively high cost of an audit report formally approved by the authority last month.
At the board’s monthly meeting Tuesday afternoon, Chair Denice Ferranti-Robinson said that the $3,035 that she said McClure & Wolf charged for the 2015 audit covering the UDBDA was “an awful lot of money.”
The 2014 audit report covering the UDBDA came from McClure & Wolf at a cost of $2,700, Ferranti-Robinson said.
Ferranti-Robinson indicated she was confused by the most recent audit report explicitly covering both 2014 and 2015.
“I think we should talk to (McClure & Wolf) about pricing,” UDBDA member Donna Holdorf said.
UDBDA member Steve Neubauer noted that the authority wasn’t active for much of 2015 due to a dispute with city council regarding financial records and personnel issues, and he also suggested contacting McClure & Wolf regarding the pricing.
UDBDA Secretary and State Theatre Center for the Arts Executive Director Erica Miller said the theater has paid $3,500 for its audit in the past.
“(But) look at the activity you have,” Ferranti-Robinson said.
A copy of the audit report obtained by the Herald-Standard shows that it covers calendar years 2014 and 2015, pointing out that the small size of authorities like the UDBDA makes them more susceptible to a potentially burdensome division of labor for their board members.
The report showed a net position of $111,329 for the authority in 2015, down from $143,569, while the authority’s total liabilities totaled $31,121 for 2015, up from $5,929 for 2014. The authority’s total assets amounted to $142,450 for 2015, down from $149,498 in 2014.
In other business, the UDBDA voted to move its bank accounts from Key Bank and Community Bank to United Bank, joining along with the Uniontown Redevelopment Authority, which voted last month to move all its bank accounts to United Bank as well.
According to Uniontown Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Mark Rafail, United Bank fared slightly better than First National Bank and PNC Bank per the redevelopment authority’s review committee consisting of Rafail, board Secretary Antoinette Hodge and Assistant Secretary-Treasurer John Ptak.
The UDBDA also focused preliminarily on holiday planning, settling upon holding Home for the Holidays on Thurs., Nov. 16, and Magic & Mistletoe on Saturday, Nov. 18, as well as promoting a Buddy Holly music show called “Rave On” already slated for Friday, Nov. 17, at the State Theatre as part of that weekend’s festivities.