AUDITOR TO SETTLE DISPUTE OF ORAN BOOKS

ORAN -- A year of confusion over Oran city finances should end tonight when staff from the state auditor's office announce their findings.

The public meeting will be at 7 p.m. in the Oran Public School cafeteria on Church Street.

The debate began in November 1994 when an annual audit uncovered a several-thousand-dollar shortfall for the 1993-1994 fiscal year. Former alderman Walt Madigan began a petition drive to get state auditors to study Oran's finances.

The drive came up 19 signatures short, and former alderman Donald Harris collected the rest in early 1995. Harris said he was bothered by the number of closed meetings aldermen conducted regarding the bookkeeping and by unanswered questions.

"They wouldn't tell people what was going on and why our regular audit didn't come out right," he said. "(Aldermen) would get mad if you wanted to talk about why it came out bad.

"It is our money, and we have the right for the state to come in here. We're not doing anything wrong."

A spokesman with State Auditor Margaret Kelly's office, Frank Ybarra, said the office only audits cities or school districts when requested by petition. The body being audited has to pay for the work. Ybarra said a cost estimate for the audit will be announced tonight.

Early estimates made last year were up to $12,000.

Tom Urhahn, president of the Oran Board of Alderman, said he expected a simple bookkeeping error to be revealed by the state. City Collector Jean Neal may not have deposited some money on time to be counted during the 1993-94 fiscal year, he said, and that deposit should show up on the 1994-95 year.

"We have an audit every year by an independent auditor," Urhahn said. "When he couldn't pinpoint the problem, we had another auditor come in, and she could almost guarantee that the next year's deposits would be over what they should be."

Neal, who has been Oran's collector for nearly 16 years, said her decision not to seek re-election in April was made before the bookkeeping controversy arose.

She said she already has complied with early bookkeeping suggestions made by the state auditor's office but expects to hear other recommendations tonight.