By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The City of Great Bend chose recent familiarity over locality Monday night when approving a firm to conduct their audits for the next three years.
Adams Brown, an accounting firm headquartered in Great Bend, used to conduct the city’s audits until fiscal year 2020. The city switched over to Gordon CPA, based in Lawrence, partially because of Adams Brown's indirect connection with a lawsuit filed against the city from homeowners in the Amber Meadows subdivision.
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Great Bend City Council member Jolene Biggs felt the familiarity with Gordon CPA was important despite Adams Brown providing lower bids.
"Personally, I'd like to see it stay with Gordon CPA just to make it easier for them (Great Bend's financial department)," said Biggs. "I do recall that Adams Brown chose not to continue to bid after the lawsuit. They've now come back with a bid, but I would be in favor of Gordon CPA."
The lawsuit stemmed from residents believing the city was responsible for the homeowners’ houses flooding following the large amounts of rain the area received in spring 2019. Last April, the City of Great Bend approved a general release that freed the city from any future claims.
RELATED STORY: Claims released against Great Bend from residents' lawsuit for flooding
The city council voted 4-2 in favor of Gordan CPA to handle the next three audits. City Clerk Shawna Schafer said the bid includes a single audit for federal funds.
"I do anticipate us having a single audit each year," said Schafer. "A single audit is if you spend more than $750,000 in federal funds. The reason why I anticipate a single audit is because we have not hardly touched our ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds. They don't audit that until we spend it."
The approved audit bid from Gordon CPA for fiscal years 2023, 2024 and 2025 are $28,800, $29,715 and $30,650 respectively. The bid from Adams Brown was $26,000, $26,450 and $26,900.