Library Board OKs a look at the books, hits pause on county IT partnership

By NEAL RENTZ

The Pound Ridge Library Board of Trustees recently voted unanimously to approve the external financial audit for 2023.

The audit was presented by Jeffrey Shaver, a partner with the district’s outside auditing firm PFK O’Connor Davies LLP, at the board’s Aug. 22 meeting.

Shaver said his firm gave the library an “unmodified opinion” for their 2023 independent audit. 

“That’s the most favorable opinion you can receive,” he said. “It means the numbers in the financial statements and the disclosures are complete and accurately stated. It doesn’t mean that your numbers are favorable. It doesn’t mean that they are not favorable. It just means that they’re accurate and they’re fairly stated and that essentially is the point of an independent audit.”

Shaver said the general fund statement of revenues, expenditures and changes in fund balance noted that in 2023 the library received $902,432 in revenues, which was about $48,987 greater than anticipated. Most of the additional revenue came from interest income from the library’s investments and cash deposits, as well as the change in rates for its municipal bonds, he said.

The library’s initial budget called for expenditures of $804,927, but the library actually spent $1,003,114, Shaver said. The major change came about from capital projects undertaken by the library, including the parking lot project and interior renovations to the facility, he said.  

The report stated the library began 2023 with a fund balance of $1,755,075 and ended the year with a fund balance of $1,654,393, Shaver noted. 

The library does not need to implement new accounting standards, Shaver said. His firm is seeking one additional piece of information before it could complete its management representation letter, Shaver said. 

“It’s a collateral statement from Chase Bank,” he said.

“My banker is in Maine and I spent an hour with Chase, going to their various departments and they would eventually say ‘oh yeah, that’s very interesting and hang up,”’ library board treasurer Michael Clark said. “I know that we are collateralized with JP Morgan (Chase) but I don’t have the exact details,” adding he would provide the information to the auditing firm once he obtained it. 

A collateral statement indicates that a government entity is following General Municipal Law by maintaining bank deposits in excess of FDIC insurance coverage so it would be safe and secure if their bank failed, Shaver said. 

Shaver said he would be willing to present the 2023 audit to the library board earlier in the year, if asked by the board to do so.  

Outsourcing information technology

Also at the meeting, the board explored outsourcing its information technology services, with the exception of its Google email service. 

The library has its information technology services provided through a contract with the Westchester Library System, Library Director Jennifer Coulter told the board.

A service-level agreement for IT services with WLS is signed by individual libraries annually, she said. The cost to the Pound Ridge Library is about $40,000 a year, she noted.

Coulter said WLS provides such IT services as Pound Ridge Library’s connection to the WLS mainframe, which allows the library to share books with other Westchester libraries, device support maintenance and e-maintenance support.

“This is an a la carte menu,” she said. “We can choose to keep some, none, or all” services provided by WLS, she said. 

Through the current IT agreement with WLS, the library is leasing its computers at an annual cost of $1,000 per unit, Coulter said, adding that cost will rise annually by $100 per computer. “That’s why I’ve chosen to investigate alternatives.”

The pros of renewing the contract with WLS include that “they are a known quantity,” dedicated to libraries in the county, Coulter said.

Coulter noted that 25% of the libraries in Westchester have no longer agreed to be included in the WLS IT agreement and that there have been two breaches of that library system’s computer security.

WLS is “not cutting edge” in its IT services, Coulter said.

Coulter said Wednesday that the breaches were two failed ransomware attacks.

“The breaches affected all of the 38 libraries in the Westchester Library System,” she told The Recorder. “Our computer system is not tied to the town of Pound Ridge.”

The board will continue the discussion when it meets Thursday, Sept. 19, at 7:15 p.m.

Roadwork project approved

Also at the meeting, the board voted unanimously to approve a project to do work on the dirt road that leads to neighbors’ houses for the library’s overflow parking area.

The trustees agreed to a $3,600 contract with the Pound Ridge-based Luppino Landscaping Corp. The Aug. 13 proposal from the company stated they were seeking to do the following work: remove and dispose of a large dead ash tree; bring three tree stumps to 4-feet below grade; remove chips and grade over stumps with gravel; cut back vegetation along the road; fill, grade and tamp pot holes along dirt road; and do a complete site cleanup.

Board Vice President Valerie Nelson also noted that the striping of the library’s parking lot was scheduled to take place Aug. 26.