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Flask successful as city auditor

Flask successful as city auditor

DEAR EDITOR:

This past July, Councilman Vince Flask was chosen to fill the vacant seat of Warren’s Auditor.

His 12 years of experience with the city’s budget, 10 years of tax knowledge and ability to manage a professional staff has proven invaluable.

Warren’s Finance Department had seen three different auditors in only six months when Vince stepped in to fill the post. The city was facing an annual filing deadline, an IRS filing deadline, a budget shortfall of a few million dollars, and the possibility of not enough money in the general fund to finish the year. Flask also had to lead a staff whose heads were still spinning from all of the transitions that had just taken place, and an income tax levy campaign.

Due to his budget and finance experience, Vince stepped in and immediately assessed the situation and began addressing the issues. He was successful in filing the annual report on time and received a clean bill of health from the Government Finance Officers Association for 2015 in the process, a proud tradition the Finance Department has carried for many years. Because of his tax knowledge, Vince was able to file the necessary paperwork with the IRS, saving the city from thousands of dollars in penalties. He also was able to fill holes in the 2016 budget by working with City Council to make adjustments to all of the general fund departments and minimized tapping into the hospitalization and workers’ compensation funds of which was anticipated by the former auditor.

None of these are small tasks, but perhaps most impressive was that while addressing these issues, he and his staff prepared not one, but two 2017 budgets for the mayor and council — one including the income tax levy’s passage and one if it failed. He was planning for the worst case scenario and preparing for for the best.

In just six short months, I believe Mr. Flask has overwhelmingly proven he was the right choice to be Warren’s Auditor.

EUGENE MACH

Warren

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