WESTBROOK – The Westbrook school administration will not move forward with a proposal to switch financial software systems to the same one used by the city. School officials
said at an informal, if somewhat testy, meeting Tuesday they were not “comfortable” with the plan.
The city of Westbrook, which will begin to develop the 2015-16 budget on a finance software system known as Munis, has advocated for the school department to join the same program, in an effort to make the budget process more seamless.
However, school administrators said Tuesday that they are happy with their current model, and are concerned about making the jump to a system that is relatively unused by other regional school districts.
City Councilor Michael Foley said during the meeting that while he didn’t expect the school department to join the shared system until administrators feel comfortable with it, he feels it’s “the best solution in the long run.”
City officials, including City Administrator Jerre Bryant and Comptroller Alicia Gardiner, said that separate systems provide a challenge for them, as all public expenditures and documents, including the school budget, must be signed by Bryant and Gardiner, which assures that all the proper procedures have been followed.
“We’ve been signing that whether we’ve known that’s been the case or not,” Bryant said. “I’m not sure I meet my fiduciary responsibility to the city of Westbrook if we don’t have a better understanding and collaboration on financial processing and reporting than we have right now.”
School Committee member Susan Salisbury, who is also chairwoman of the school’s finance committee, said the school department has consistently said it had concerns about moving to Munis, and intended to stay with the current program.
In early 2013, the school department decided to move away from a shared finance department with the city, seeking better control over its own staff, and grant reporting, in particular.
The Westbrook School Department maintains and forms budgets using a program called ProFund, which was recently bought by finance software company Tyler Technologies. Tyler Tech also owns the municipal finance program Munis, a program the city of Westbrook just purchased for roughly $100,000.
Salisbury said that the school department isn’t comfortable with “starting from scratch” on a new shared system, when their system is working.
“We have worked so hard over the last few years to get back to where we are financially,” she said. “We’re not comfortable being the guinea pig.”
The city of Lewiston is currently building a shared city and school system using Munis.
Dean Flanigan, director of operations for Westbrook schools, said during the meeting that in researching neighboring school systems in South Portland and Scarborough, he had legitimate concerns for Munis, including a proper “grant reporting” element, necessary for school finances.
Foley said that access and control issues are at the heart of concerns from the city side.
“We’re telling you that we’re significantly concerned and no longer comfortable with the financial reporting of the school department,” he said.
“I’m signing off on payroll forms at the end of the year, and don’t know what systems led up to that,” Gardiner said.
“When you say that, you have no trust in these people, you don’t trust our finance people,” said School Committee chairman Jim Violette. “I’m upset that you’re not trusting us.”
While school administration said Gardiner should have access to school accounts, Gardiner said she has difficulty gaining access to routine documents.
“There’s no one overarching issue, its just that we need to develop citywide internal procedures that everyone is going to follow and agree to,” she said.
At the end of the meeting, both sides agreed that a decision had to be made, given the amount of time that has been directed toward discussion on the issue.
Superintendent of Schools Marc Gousse said the meeting felt like a “forced march” on committing to the software, but said he is “completely uncomfortable” with committing. Instead, Gousse said, the sides should be discussing more pressing issues.
According to Flanigan, an audit of the school department is nearing completion.
“This is the type of thing that drives me nuts,” said Council President Brendan Rielly. “Picking software is something that shouldn’t take all these people sitting around a table to do.”
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