Finance consultant says FY25 liens weren’t filed and finds possible $1.5 million in double‑counted revenue

Jim, a consultant who prepared a six‑month follow‑up to a January report, told the Lisbon Falls Town Council that staff discovered several serious accounting problems in the FY25 records and outlined corrective steps.

The most immediate issue Jim raised was that FY25 tax liens were not filed on schedule. "The '25 tax liens were not filed," he said, and estimated "about 150 properties" are affected. Jim told the council that the town must send 45‑day notices to property owners and legal interest holders and then file liens; he said notices are being prepared and the FY26 lien process is being readied to capture unpaid taxes.

Jim also described a separate accounting problem he called "the one I've found most concerning": he said "about 1,000,000 and a half dollars of revenues" were double‑counted in the FY25 budget. He explained that in some cases transactions that should have been recorded on the balance sheet — for example loan proceeds for a fire truck sale — had been booked as current revenue, inflating the miscellaneous‑revenue line. Jim noted an end‑of‑August adjusted entry that increased a miscellaneous‑revenue account (the consultant referenced an $11,937,241 figure in the adjustment) and said the practice obscured the town’s true fund‑balance needs.

On reporting and systems, Jim told the council the town’s financial software (Munis) limits how many fiscal periods can be open simultaneously and that the FY25 audit must be closed before regular monthly and quarterly public reporting can resume. He said staff expect to have the FY25 work completed for auditors by December and that once closed the Munis budgeting module will allow more timely public reports.

Jim said the administration has already made several policy and budget changes — including consolidating fringe/benefit budgeting and moving recreation programs to special‑revenue accounts — and added a $100,000 turnover credit to the fringe line. He proposed a formal cash‑flow pro forma to maximize permitted investments and said better cash timing could yield additional investment income.

What happens next: staff will prepare and send the required 45‑day foreclosure notices, complete FY25 audit closeout work and continue the FY26 lien preparations. Jim and staff said they will provide updated reporting once Munis can produce regular period reports.