Pacos, Tampio respond on fiscal reports
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North County Water District Chairman Dan Pacos and Chautauqua County Legislature Clerk Kathy Tampio responded last week to recent OBSERVER content about its internal financial reports.
It was reported at last month's meeting that NCWD board members who are not Legislature members or town supervisors were not getting monthly financial reports. Tampio stated at February's meeting that Chadwick Bay Intermunicipal Waterworks (CBI), which bills NCWD customers, is a separate entity which does business under a shared services agreement with the NCWD. The NCWD itself is under the oversight of the Chautauqua County Legislature.
"If at any time someone from the public, or a member of this board, wants financial information, they can request that from their town supervisor or mayor," she said.
The monthly reports are based on "internal financial documents" that CBI creates as it gets information from its accountants, Tampio added.
Pacos said he initially did not want to share monthly financial reports that were not complete, explaining that billing is running behind. "I'm chasing staff to get billing up to date," he said. He said the updating is almost complete.
Tampio accused the OBSERVER of making an "inference that this board is withholding information from their board members. That is not the case."
"When we got behind, I said, 'There's no sense in it because it's not complete,'" Pacos reiterated.
He later said, "I don't want the impression we're trying to hide information from board members."
All board members did get monthly reports at February's meeting. Pacos said he asked Tampio to wait until the meeting to share the reports so he could answer questions about them in person.
Pacos said the NCWD might close 2023 with a net profit, the first year it would turn a profit. "Keeping fingers crossed," he said.