St. Stephen council is again defending itself as it works to improve its financial operations.
In September 2024, Chief Administrative Officer Jeff Renaud was appointed acting treasurer following the retirement of long-serving treasurer Tim Tozer. The position is not permanent, Renaud confirmed.
He also confirmed he has received no extra compensation for the position. Municipalities in New Brunswick are required to have a treasurer under the Local Governance Act.
Barb Tucker, a St. Stephen resident who lives in Ward 3, took issue with Renaud’s appointment. She told the council she was asked to speak on behalf of several people who shared similar concerns.
“Each role has distinct responsibilities,” she said, speaking to the council during the public comment period. “Combining them could lead to potential conflicts of interests and a lack of dedicated attention to either of those areas.”
Tucker said an assistant treasurer was hired in 2017 and questioned what happened to the succession plan at that time.
Workload was another concern for Tucker, who read from a prepared statement.
“It has been noted by mayor and council that the responsibilities and work being done by the CAO is often extensive and by adding these complex duties of a treasurer that could potentially lead to a burnout,” she said.
Tucker also drew concern about the incompleteness of the 2023 audit. A municipality is required, also by legislation, to have its financial statements audited.
Reviewed its financial operations
In 2024, the town contracted MNP to do an independent review of the financial management systems. Renaud said in an email that a number of areas where its operations were running inefficiently.
“Administration is working hard to address these areas,” he said.
Staff are also modernizing the chart of accounts, he explained to The Courier. It will allow for better integration for the Questica Program and to provide “logic based taxonomy to the account coding.”
“This will enhance our ability to pull data from our systems for better analytical reporting and information-based decision making,” he said in the email.
But Tucker also thanked Renaud, staff and the council for their work on the 2025 budget, which saw a slight decrease in the tax rates, but also some investments in local infrastructure.
“Thank you again, mayor and council, for listening to these concerns,” she said.
Mayor Allan MacEachern was quick to respond, despite the public comment period not being a question-and-answer format. Typically, members of the public make comments and ask questions but do not receive a direct response from any member of the council or staff.
“I want to emphasize, we had our treasurer retire in the midst of all this, trying to get the budget done and we have to have a treasurer by law,” he said. “We have to approve an acting treasurer, that’s acting until we get things straightened out.”
Chandra Best, another resident of MDSS, also questioned the money being spent by the council.
“The taxpayers are going to have to pay more than $300,000 for council and administration efforts to sort out this town’s financial situation,” she said.
The town did spend money on a new budgeting software called Questica at a price tag of about $39,100. Renaud said the work is ongoing with Frank Godsoe, the town’s assistant treasurer.
Renaud said once the software is operational, it will provide the public better access to the information on budget allocation and spending.
Best said spending needs to be cut or completely justified, also taking aim at the four per cent tax cut given to the two wards. MacEachern once again responded to the comments.
‘We don’t take spending money lightly here’
“We worked very hard on that budget to keep the tax rate where it is,” he said. “I don’t hear anyone saying anything about us holding the tax rate even without the support of staff over the last 10 years prior to that.”
He said the council takes the budget process, which includes setting the tax rates, seriously.
“We don’t take spending money lightly here,” he said. “It’s not the case. I’d love to lower the tax rate, but that’s very challenging with assessments (not) being even across the board.”
“We do the best we can with what we got. We need more money, we all know that. But we’re a small community and we do the best we can with what we can work with.”
MacEachern also said the rationale behind cutting staff and responsibility sharing is a result of the municipality trying to reign in spending.
“That’s all cost-cutting right now,” he said. “It’s also really challenging finding replacements these days too.”
He appealed to the community to show some support, admitting he wanted to increase the tax rate to appease the many complaints he and the council receive.
“We need development and I don’t want to discourage that either,” he said.
Godsoe also defended the work of staff, who have been working on streamlining accounting processes and getting things in order with the audit.
“We do take our responsibilities seriously as to what needs to be done in regards to the 2023 audit and the 2024 audit,” he said. “The audit has been ongoing now since before Christmas. The statements have been drafted.”
He said the information being asked for by the auditors is being sent to them within a day or two of the request.
Renaud confirmed that he expects the 2023 audit to be available within the next several weeks, however, the municipality has no control over the pace and progress of an independent firm.
As for the 2024 audit, Renaud expects the information to be provided by the end of February, with completion expected before the legislated deadline.
“At the time, we’re working on a number of things,” Godsoe said. “The Questica, the budget software, and things with that, working on the accounting structure … spent a good part of the day looking at code structures and how we can redevelop that.”
“There is a lot of work going on behind the scenes that people don’t see until it actually gets brought up here and voted on by the council, but we do take our responsibilities very seriously.”
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