BELHAVEN — The Town of Belhaven is looking for a new auditor.

The town’s contract with independent firm Preston, Douglas & Associates is coming up on its third year, but Mayor Adam O’Neal said he is not pleased with the firm’s services.

At Monday night’s Board of Aldermen meeting, O’Neal requested that Belhaven Manager Woody Jarvis look into contracting with other firms. The next audit would cover fiscal year 2016-17, which ends June 30.

“We’re checking on that as we speak,” Jarvis said Thursday. “I’ve got (Finance Director Kelly Brady) checking on that with the (Local Government Commission) to see what it would involve.”

Jarvis said he wasn’t sure of the process to find a new auditing firm, and he wasn’t sure if there would be time to secure a contract with another firm in time for the 2016-17 audit. He said the Town contracts with a firm on a yearly basis, and usually changes firms every few years.

O’Neal said he was disappointed with how Preston, Douglas & Associates handled the town’s problem with unpaid utility bills. He maintains that neither he nor the Board of Aldermen members at the time knew about the delinquent bills before the Office of the State Auditor stepped in.

“These people have done the worst job in the history of the town,” O’Neal said.

The state’s audit report covered fiscal year 2014-15, and uncovered almost $430,000 in delinquent utility bills left uncollected. Town officials also failed to write off inactive account balances.

Despite O’Neal’s claims, the State Auditor’s report contends, “There is clear evidence the Mayor and Town Council had knowledge of large delinquent account balances. In a December 2014 letter to the Mayor of the Town of Belhaven, the North Carolina Local Government Commission (LGC) explained that the Town’s Water and Sewer Fund 2013 net loss was a result of the Town’s failure to follow its utility cut-off policy resulting in past-due balances.”

Preston, Douglas & Associates did not respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.