$170K accounting gap spurs review, but questions persist
A discrepancy in the Acton Municipal Light Plant’s books is the latest in a line of municipal finance woes.
When it came time to balance the Acton Municipal Light Plant’s checkbook for 2024, staff found a discrepancy of roughly $170,000.
The town controls CMLP’s bank account. The light plant keeps another record. The tallies diverged, and officials tapped outside accountants for a “forensic reconciliation.”
CMLP Director Jason Bulger said both numbers could be wrong, and officials might have to adjust the town and light plant books to reflect the actual balance.
It’s the latest in a line of municipal finance woes. Officials say they’re getting back on track, but some Concordians are still slamming town brass.
“We want to make sure that we feel 100% confident in the information that we have,” Town Manager Kerry Lafleur told The Acton Bridge when asked about the CMLP forensic review.
She separately acknowledged that officials made a “misstep” when they replaced their auditors without a public process.
An ‘unprecedented time’
The town got its 2024 audit in late 2025. Leaders didn’t have CMLP’s full report, but entered a contract with the CliftonLarsonAllen accounting firm around the same time.
Annual municipal audits inform bond ratings. The ratings, in turn, influence interest rates when towns borrow money for major projects.
Officials also rely on accurate financial statements for budgeting.
Town staff blame turnover and a software conversion for accounting breakdowns during the 2024 fiscal year. Auditors warned that faulty town and CMLP accounting practices could have let errors slip through the cracks.
This is an “unprecedented time,” resident Mark Martines said during a recent Financial Audit Advisory Committee meeting.
He mentioned a pending lawsuit that town Chief Financial Officer Anthony Ansaldi filed over his dismissal — and the fact that the audit advisory panel hadn’t met in well over a year.
“If this were a private company,” Martines said of the town’s audit findings, “I think senior executives’ jobs would be at risk.”
New schedules
Audits are usually done within a few months of each fiscal year’s end. The FY 2024 process took much longer.
Auditors at CBIZ CPAs signed off on town and CMLP financials despite accounting problems.
In 2024, CMLP took in more than $37 million and spent just over $33.5 million.
The town’s accounting delays affected CMLP’s 2024 and 2023 records, as officials made retroactive changes in the town’s books.
CliftonLarsonAllen went transaction by transaction through CMLP financials from the Town House and light plant HQ for 2023 and 2024. Accountants were wrapping up their work as of March 9, Bulger told The Bridge.
The town has committed to finalizing its records within 45 days of the end of each month.
The $170,000 confusion piled up, in part, because the town fell behind and CMLP didn’t have finished statements to check against, officials said. The new schedule “will greatly help us,” Bulger told the audit advisory committee.
New auditors
CMLP and the town are ditching CBIZ over what Bulger described as a “lack of communication or proactivity on their part.”
The Financial Audit Advisory Committee’s charge includes recommending new auditors, but officials announced their new picks without going before the panel.
Staff asked Roselli, Clark & Associates about coming on for the fiscal 2026 town audit, Lafleur said. The firm was also available for the 2025 process.
“We got excited, and we jumped on that,” Lafleur said.
However, the switch “should not have happened that way,” Lafleur said during the advisory committee’s March 2 session.
New auditors have been in Acton in recent weeks as officials try to return to a normal audit schedule.
Residents are paying taxes, “and you want to make sure the government is running effectively and correctly,” said Select Board Clerk Wendy Rovelli, who chairs the Financial Audit Advisory Committee.
When revelations like the town and CMLP audit findings emerge, “it’s a surprise,” she said, and people wonder, “What’s going on?”
It’s “really important” to restore trust, Rovelli told The Bridge. Eighteen months after fiscal ’24 ended, she said she’s “listening for what’s happening now” and eyeing ways to strengthen Acton’s bookkeeping.
Bulger is among those who say recent reforms will probably help address any future discrepancies.
“Going forward,” he told the audit advisory committee, “we feel very confident.”
A recent timeline of ‘deficiencies’ and ‘weaknesses’
- November 2025: Auditor tells Acton officials about some “internal control deficiencies” but signs off on town 2024 financial statements.
- December 2, 2025: Town Manager Kerry Lafleur signs contract for outside accountants to help reconcile 2024 Acton Municipal Light Plant financial records with town books.
- December 4, 2025: Auditors identify “material weaknesses” in town accounting. CMLP’s separate management letter arrives in early 2026 and also notes a “material weakness” on reconciliation.
- December 17, 2025: Ex-Chief Financial Officer Anthony Ansaldi sues town over his firing and alleges that he uncovered financial misconduct. Lafleur later contends in a “confidential” Select Board briefing that audit findings don’t back up Ansaldi’s accusations.
- January 27, 2026: Officials announce switch from CBIZ CPAs to new auditors, who start preparing for fiscal 2025 town and CMLP audits.
- February and March 2026: Financial Audit Advisory Committee begins discussing fiscal 2024 audits.
Sources: Emails and timeline released in March 9 Financial Audit Advisory Committee meeting packet; town contract with CliftonLarsonAllen
