BUCKFIELD — The town is in a healthier financial position than in the past, according to the accounting firm that is conducting the municipal audit.

Ron Smith of RHR Smith & Company of Buxton provided officials an update on the 2023-24 audit, which should be completed by September, Smith said.

In previous years, missing records made reconciliation difficult or impossible.

“There was a lot of bad math,” Smith said. “There was a lot of bad accounting. But there was nothing fraudulent that occurred.”

Smith said he has four concurrent audits being prepared. Most of them, starting with 2020-21, will have lengthy explanations attached to make clear the numbers and any incomplete information. No such attachment will be included for the current 2023-24 audit.

Smith and Town Manager Cameron Hinkley agreed to look ahead and focus on the latest audit.

Hinkley has been manager since August 2022 and made it a priority to fix town finances.

During the years when documentation was spotty, the town had six town managers in less than two years and several different people handled money and kept records.

Smith said the town is not unique in having accounting irregularities.

“There’s a lot of Buckfields out there right now,” Smith said. “The world of government is ugly. There are a lot of people in similar situations that you are.”

In other business, Ken Rodgers from KRT Appraisal of Massachusetts spoke to officials and residents about the recently completed property revaluation, which has created a lot of anger and confusion about the new property values.

It was the town’s first revaluation in about 30 years.

According to Selectman Sandra Fickett and other property owners, property values increased as much as four times the former amount.

Several residents are fearing how that may affect their property taxes.

Rodgers explained the process and methodology that was used and said property cards and other resources will be added to the town’s website within the week so taxpayers can check the figures for themselves.

“We support every taxpayer,” Fickett said. “Moving forward, we want to make sure that this is correct. And even after the process of meetings is done, if people still feel that there are inaccuracies and errors, that we are part of a team. It is not Select Board versus community. We want this to be accurate. We want this to be right. We will support people through this process.”