Zionsville Town council members say accounting software hampers ability to conduct financial business • Current Publishing

The Zionsville Town Council is having a difficult time completing its duties because of discrepancies in the town’s finances, according to council members.

Council President Jason Plunkett said the discrepancies are caused by OpenGov software, a financial reporting system. The town began using the software in 2021 after voting to transition to OpenGov in 2020.

Zionsville Mayor Emily Styron told council members that OpenGov implementation was hampered by “unexpected, time-consuming challenges” at an April 18 council meeting. She acknowledged that her administration made mistakes, such as not going through a request for proposals process for the software.

Following the April 18 meeting, Westfield Clerk-Treasurer Cindy Gossard told Zionsville Town Council members that if someone from Zionsville had reached out to Westfield about using OpenGov, she would have advised them against it.

The Administration tried using OpenGov and because of all the issues my office refused to use it,” Gossard stated in an email obtained by Current. “The numbers in OpenGov never matched our Month/Year End Financial reports.”

The Zionsville Town Council was unable to approve claims at a June meeting because members were unsure of the true balances in the town’s financial accounts.

“OpenGov seems to be unable to produce basic reports reconciling our accounts,” Plunkett said.

Plunkett said town council members were concerned about the issues because the town…

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