Auditors seek better records from parish committees
BETTER record keeping must be practised by two St Martin’s parish committees after problems were identified in audits.
At the parish meeting, senior constable Jeff Wilkes-Green said it had faced some challenges this year.
While the parish did have a clear audit report, there were issues with the records of the school committee and the church property management board – both of which are external to the douzaine.
‘There were shortcomings with the record keeping,’ he said.
Nothing suspicious was unearthed through the audit. But committees did need to change their practices.
‘This is being tackled,’ said Mr Wilkes-Green.
The issues were flagged by the parish’s auditors, Perkins, which confirmed in a letter that there were deficiencies in the current system and highlighted how
improvements could be made.
Also at the meeting, thanks were given to individuals for their efforts over the last year, including parish clerk Anita Leale, Phil Merrien and the floral team, and Dave Beausire for his work on parish abreuveurs.
There was also a thank you to parish handyman John Garnham and his wife, Marilyn, who look after the parish hall gardens.
They are due to step down next June and Mr Wilkes-Green said they planned to advertise for a new parish handyperson.
Mr Wilkes-Green added that parishioners were also benefiting from lower rates, thanks to the parish’s sensible financial management.
The parish rate dropped from 24.5p per household unit in 2019 to 22.5p last year and then falling further to 21.08p this year.
He said this was thanks to the parish ensuring committees were budgeting well and using up their reserves.
