Alderman Austin J. Tylec said Monday that North Tonawanda needs a fiscal stability committee that would make decisions about the city's finances at its public meetings.
His suggestion comes in the wake of a state audit that said no one kept track of the numbers after former City Accountant Amanda Reimer left her post in August 2019.
"We haven't been transparent enough with our finances," Tylec said.
The State Comptroller's Office said Friday that former Clerk-Treasurer Matthew L. Parish used improper reserve fund transfers to pay bills, including the payroll, in February and March after state auditors concluded the city was about to run out of cash.
Mayor Arthur G. Pappas said the city used the transfers to avoid the interest cost of short-term borrowing. Comptroller's Office spokeswoman Tania Lopez said the need to borrow "is an indication of cash flow problems and insufficient fund balance and does not justify improperly ‘borrowing’ or raiding reserve funds. Further, city officials don’t have the funds to restore all the money 'borrowed' from reserves."
