But the town says they are almost caught up.

A Jan. 25 audit report states Electric City has not recorded how the town received or spent money since August of 1999.

Mayor Ray Halsey, however, said Monday the employees at town hall are caught up on all of the postings in the last couple of months. The only problem left involves transferring money between accounts, which had not been done because of computer error.

He said the town hired a computer specialist from Seattle to come to town hall and fix the money-transferring software and train town staff a couple of days ago.

The town paid him a little more than $400, Halsey said.

According to the auditor, the town said not enough staff works at the town to post the revenues and expenditures to the books. Halsey said the town hall has two full-time employees and one part-time employee and the town will not hire any more employees.

He said he thinks the audit was unfair to Electric City.

"The state auditor is trying to be a Big Brother and run the town from the office in Wenatchee," Halsey said. "They can't know the ins and outs of the town from one day."

The report stated that Halsey seemed reluctant to hire additional staff or seek assistance from the state's small cities specialist.

The town did not hire the specialist because of the high cost, Halsey said State auditor spokesperson Mindy Chambers said a small cities specialist is an affordable expert who acts as a consultant to a town to solve accounting problems. She said the state offers the specialists because small towns often do not have enough resources to meet the state's deadlines.

The report states that when transactions are not posted, books can be manipulated. The lack of financial reports prevents Electric City officials, the public and other interested parties from obtaining timely information and slows down the state Auditor's Office from compiling statistical and financial information for use by the state Legislature, the U.S. Census Bureau and others.

In 2004, the auditor's office will perform their next Electric City audit and see if Electric City has posted their transactions properly, Chambers said. In the meantime, the town will have the responsibility of keeping the postings accurate.

Last year, the Electric City fire department had a problem with the town's posting practice. The fire department said the town owed them more than $100,000 in their investment fund. The money had transferred from the town's general fund to the fire department's investment fund, they said. As a result the department lost several months of interest.

Halsey told the firefighters as soon as the books are caught up, the town will pay the firefighters the lost interest.

The Star of Grand Coulee

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002