Coventry Town Council members call for fiscal transparency in outstanding audit

(WJAR) — Coventry Town Council members are frustrated with a lack of financial reporting and an outstanding audit.

Council members Jamie LeBlanc and Hillary Lima said the audit for the fiscal year 2021 is eight months overdue.

At a meeting this week, both expressed concern with missing monthly budget reports.

In response, Town Manager Ben Marchant said he "cannot give a timeframe for when this is expected to be done."

Marchant said they're working to get them done as soon as possible; however, Lima thinks there's a lack of transparency.

"The main reason we've always been given is, there's just so much mismanagement," Lima said. "'Coventry's finances have just been so mismanaged, and things needed to be cleaned up' but beyond that we still haven't been given a real answer into what's holding it up."

Without the complete audit, the town council can not calculate or get approval on the bond amount needed for the town.

The town council said they will have an executive session on the audit concerns on Monday.

NBC 10's Gabrielle Caracciolo contributed to this report.