Burr Ridge Auditor Policy 'Burdensome,' 'Impractical'

BURR RIDGE, IL – Burr Ridge is considering doing away with its decade-old policy to rotate auditors every five years.

In 2014, the village joined many towns in the philosophy that changing auditors was good public policy.

This was after the 2012 arrest of Rita Crundwell, the comptroller in Dixon, who made off with more than $50 million in public money over the years.

Dixon, which is 100 miles west of Chicago, stuck with the same auditor for decades. That auditor gave Dixon's finances the top rating every year, a rating nearly all towns get.

According to public records, Crundwell, who was convicted, was part of the auditor's baseball team at one point, and one of the auditor's employees wanted to date her. The relationship was seen as too close. Dixon sued the auditor, which ended up settling for $30 million.

Burr Ridge's auditor is Naperville-based Lauterbach & Amen.

According to a Burr Ridge memo, village staff has found the auditor rotation policy to be "burdensome and impractical." The policy also requires the auditor to annually rotate its staff handling the audit.

Under a proposed policy, the village would competitively screen auditors every five years with the option of continuing with the same one.

But if the auditor remains, the firm would be required to change the employees who do the work after five years. That would bring "fresh oversight," the village said.

The proposal is recommended by the Government Finance Officers Association.

"(The association) has found that having long-term relationships will allow for greater oversight of the audited municipality as the audit staff will have a greater understanding of the municipality's financial architecture," the memo said.

The Village Board plans to vote on changing the policy Monday.