The City of Hoover has witnessed a notable turnover in its administrative and financial staffing since the 2020 election, a level of change that is significant and could potentially impact the city’s stability and operations.
Since 2020, Hoover is on its third CFO and has replaced its longtime city administrator, Allan Rice. He abruptly retired a week after being placed on paid administrative leave for reasons never fully explained.
Two months after Rice’s retirement in June 2023, Hoover’s CFO also retired, having been with the city for only three years. This succession of retirements, particularly for the two highest-paid positions for the City of Hoover, has undoubtedly had a significant impact on the city’s financial management.
Sources tell Alabama Today that during this time, the city also changed its longtime independent audit firm from Barfield, Murphy, Shank & Smith (BMSS) Advisors and CPAs to another firm. The change came after the last BMSS report, which included a “finding” of problems that the then-CFO disagreed with.
According to the Hoover Sun, the audit report for fiscal 2022 noted “some material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in the city’s internal controls. The material weaknesses included not enough segregation of duties over financial reporting by an outsourced contractor at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex and errors and problems related to the implementation of a new business software system. The significant deficiencies dealt with the recording of accounts receivable transactions and the holding of checks for vendors.”
Despite the concerns in the audit report, the Sun reported that “Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato was not alarmed.”
During this same time, the City has issued nine general obligation bonds totaling $93 million, passed two resolutions changing City finance and accounting practices, and increased the time taken to release audit findings of the City’s finances yearly.
A review of previous audit reports shows that the 2019 report was released on March 31, 2020 (6 months); the 2020 report on April 30, 2021 (7 months); the 2021 report on May 2, 2022 (8 months); and last year’s (the 2022) report was released on August 31, 2023 (11 months). As for the 2023 audit report, according to purported statements by the City of Hoover, the 2023 audit is still ongoing (well into the 2024 fiscal year), and the release date for the audit report is unknown.
Despite the Mayor’s assurances that there is nothing to be alarmed about, the combination of all the above has led some to start questioning the city’s actual financial condition and the process of getting information out to its citizens in a timely and understandable fashion.
A challenge that the City’s CFO, Jennifer Cornnet, who has been on the job four months, recognized in a recent post by the mayor’s office. She emphasized that her focus is on transparency and clear reporting of City finances. “One of my goals is really transparent and clear financial reporting that is presented the way a normal person can use it because there’s a lot of things that we do in accounting that are not normal and mean nothing to other people who aren’t in accounting and it can be overwhelming,” Cornett said in a statement on the city website. “I’d love to be able to provide a big picture snapshot overview that’s easy to read and understand.”
We will continue to follow developments related to the City of Hoover’s finances and report what we learn.
Editors Note: This story has been edited to correct the spelling of the Hoover CFO’s last name. A prior version of this story stated that a detailed list of questions was sent to the City of Hoover, and a follow-up call was made to confirm its receipt. That original email contained an error and was not received until several hours after publishing the original story, even though the voicemail was left. The PIO did not respond to acknowledge receipt or reply to that email as of May 21, 2024.
