WOONSOCKET, R.I. (WPRI) – Woonsocket has brought in Cranston's former mayor to help sort out its finances, as the city struggles to close out its books for the past fiscal year.

The city's decision to tap Allan Fung, an attorney who led Cranston for 12 years, was revealed in communications between Woonsocket Mayor Christopher Beauchamp and R.I. Auditor General David Bergantino.

Bergantino has expressed concern because for years Woonsocket has been late in filing an annual audit of its budget, which cities and towns are supposed to file each year by Dec. 31.

Woonsocket still hasn’t completed its audit for the last fiscal year -- which ended back on June 30 -- even as Beauchamp is preparing to propose the city's next tax-and-spending plan to the City Council for consideration next month.

“The continued late submission of audited financial statements is still a great concern to me,” Bergantino wrote in a letter to Beauchamp on April 3. “As previously suggested, I highly recommend the consideration of retaining additional resources to support the new city finance director with day-to-day accounting functions and the fiscal year-end closing process.”

Beauchamp, who formerly served as the City Council president, became mayor after Lisa Baldelli-Hunt stepped down in November amid a land-deal scandal first reported by Target 12. She cited health reasons.

Beauchamp's response to Bergantino two days later showed Fung is now working to put together the report. Fung -- who is also working with Johnston to help its schools -- is providing legal services to Woonsocket as part of an existing agreement the city has with city solicitor Michael Lepizzera.

Fung joined Lepizzera’s law firm in January. Lepizzera said the city isn't getting charged any additional fees or costs for Fung's involvement beyond its existing contract of $30,000 per month.

“I’m with his firm so it’s not a separate engagement for this,” Fung told Target 12. “The mayor and I had a good conversation with the auditor general. Mayor Beauchamp takes this incredibly seriously."

Fung left office in Cranston in 2020 due to term limits. A Republican, he also ran unsuccessfully for governor and Congress. His wife, state Rep. Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung, is challenging incumbent Cranston Mayor Ken Hopkins in the September primary.

Fung said Beauchamp is committed to getting the Woonsocket audit done and submitted to Bergantino as quickly as possible, but that it’s too early to know exactly when that might happen. 

“Right now, it’s a resources issue,” Fung said, adding that while Woonsocket has made a couple recent hires of financial staff, there are still some positions they’re trying to fill.

“They need to get more bodies in there,” Fung said.

The communications between the city and state also revealed that Beauchamp reached out to Gov. Dan McKee to ask for help. McKee spokesperson Olivia DaRocha said “the governor is aware of the current fiscal situation and is open to discussions with the city on strategies to resolve this issue.”

Beauchamp did not respond to a phone call to his office Monday.

In his letter, Beauchamp noted that the city has recently hired a new finance director and indicated that closing out the 2023 financial books was “a priority for the finance team.”

“Since I took office in November 2023, I’ve been committed to tackling head-on any obstacles that would challenge Woonsocket’s stability and take seriously the closing process as well as audit issues that you raised in your letter,” Beauchamp wrote to Bergantino.

“Our team appreciates working with you and look forward to updating you at our next monthly meeting,” he added. “Please know that I recognize the importance of our city’s finances and have tasked Fung to be involved internally and to be part of those monthly meetings.”

City Council President John Ward, who is running for mayor, said he was aware Fung was advising the city. He said it was common under Baldelli-Hunt for the audit to be late, adding the incomplete financial pictures makes it challenging to plan future budgets.

“I have serious concerns and it’s been several years that the city’s been very late,” Ward said. “It’s something that can be overcome, as the former mayor is no longer there to severely micromanage what’s being done. It’s exactly the same problem we had last year and we were flying blind without the audit report from the prior year.”

Woonsocket is not the only community that's been slow to submit its annual audit this year. Charlestown, Coventry, Foster, Hopkinton, Lincoln, Pawtucket and Warren are also late, although Bergantino said he expects some of them will be in within the next few weeks.