While the 2024 Township audit still hasn’t been posted on the website yet, a look at the agenda packet for this week’s Berkeley Heights Town Council meeting shows that the finance department is still having the same issues. In a corrective action plan the Council is set to vote on this week, seven items mentioned are the same identified in the 2023 Audit.

• Departments not submitting receipts consistently
• General ledger not connected to backup documents
• Bank account not reconciled (this includes an escrow account that hasn’t been touched in years)
• Deposits not occurring within the 48-hour mark
• Purchase orders occurring AFTER goods or services were received – a problematic practice that can lead to overspending
• Late payroll tax returns leading to penalties
• Payroll agency accounts that are incorrectly reconciled

The CFO Position in Flux – Reason or Excuse?

Other articles on the site cover the revolving door far more in depth.

In 2019, a longtime CFO resigned one year into Devanney’s term.

He was followed by another CFO who resigned in 2022, and she was followed by an interim.

Uribe was hired in 2023 and then resigned in 2024 citing “relentless harassment” and “concerted efforts to take over vital finance functions with preconceived purposes” 

After that, the Township Administrator became the center of controversy as she was temporarily given the reins as both the CFO and Qualified Purchasing Agent. This dual role raised strong objections from both former Councilman Donnelly and NJ21st.

Eventually the town landed on a shared services agreement for the CFO position, but that decision had big question marks on the wisdom of the decision given the audit findings, along with questions about whether Berkeley Heights would be a priority.

The other concern is the use of CFO turnover as a reason for the issues which runs the risk of a blanket justification; this has been clearly an issue for some time and without structural safeguards in place, it starts sounding like a convenient excuse or worse.

Then there’s the “ongoing” tag on every single item meaning that none of them have been resolved.

Lastly, this incredibly important document is buried in yet another massive agenda chock full of ordinances, resolutions and agreements – continuing the concern that important discussion are simply getting squeezed into a sea of noise.  Will the public have to sit through a three hour conversation about leash laws for cows this next meeting?

Putting the audit findings together with a corrective plan that still lists the items as ongoing and not corrected, on top of a part-time CFO at the end of a spinning revolving door, residents are right to be concerned about risks connected to oversight and fraud.

Source Documents

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