Southborough hires new town accountant
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Southborough - Carla McAuliff e's decision to accept the town's off er to become its top accountant may not completely be a case of deja vu all over again, but it's close.

For the last seven years, McAuliffe has been the assistant town accountant right next door, in Northborough. In addition, she grew up in Northborough and attended Algonquin Regional High School, which draws students from both towns.

Back then she was known as Carla Martino.

"Growing up in Northborough and having worked in Town Hall for so long, it was tough to leave, but this was too good an opportunity to pass up," McAuliff e said. "There are a lot of things that are very different about the job and there are a lot of things that are very similar."

Some of those similarities include working with staff members of the school district, which is shared by the towns, as is the auditor consultant firm.

"Having already worked with both of those groups of people is very comforting," McAuliff e said. "To have some of the relationships already established will ease the transition."

Southborough was a good fit for McAuliffe for more than just familiarity. It allowed her to continue her career development close to the Grafton home she shares with her husband and sixyear old daughter, and family members on both sides who reside in Northborough and Marlborough.

McAuliff e has had an eye on career advancement for several years and recently she studied for and earned her accounting certificate from the Massachusetts Municipal Auditors and Accountants Association, a prerequisite for her hiring in Southborough.

"The night before they offered me the job in Southborough I received my accounting certificate," McAuliff e said. "I guess you could say that was a big week in my life."

McAuliff e was thrown right into the hustle and bustle when she arrived in Southborough, helping to close out the fiscal year, which ended about a week after she reported to her new job.

She said her biggest hurdle, early on, will be acclimating herself to the procedures and systems Southborough uses, almost all of which are diff erent than the ones she became so familiar with in Northborough.

"I worked with a diff erent accounting system in Northborough," McAuliff e said, "so I find myself inputting commands and trying to access files that don't exist over here. I'm sure, over time, this system will become second nature to me, just like the one in Northborough was."

The budget process over the last few years for towns in Massachusetts has been tough. Southborough, like Northborough, faced some tough fiscal decisions throughout the last 36 months. McAuliff e said she was pleasantly surprised when she looked at Southborough's fiscal year 2008 budget for the first time.

"It looks great," McAuliff e said. "We'll definitely follow the state budgeting process, because budgeting is not an exact science."