The Edgartown water department must account for $171,600 in receipts for its new headquarters off the West Tisbury Road before it can receive reimbursement from the USDA, town accountant Kimberly Kane told the selectmen this week.

Without the reimbursement, the town will have to pay the bill.

The $1.9 million new building is funded by a combination of USDA grants and loans. In order for the town to receive the grant monies, the water department must submit its receipts. Ms. Kane said all bills have been paid, but there are discrepancies between her review of the bills and what the water department claims to have submitted for reimbursement.

Ms. Kane said she has accounted for $1.87 million in expenditures, but the water department only lists $1.65 million in receipts.

“Every item in the project should be accounted for,” Ms. Kane said. “I cross- walked through the general ledger and every expense . . . you have spent $1.8 million; you should have that amount submitted for loans and grants.”

Mr. Domont gave Ms. Kane and the selectmen his list of receipts, but Ms. Kane listed nine different items that could not be traced, including $151,730 paid to the engineering firm Tata and Howard.

Meanwhile, Ms. Kane said the water department has spent all its loan money and is now paying bills with anticipated grant money. Mr. Domont said he had no explanation for the lack of a paper trail and suggested a review of all receipts from the beginning of the project.

“I think what the problem is we have to go back further,” the superintendent said.

Selectman Margaret Serpa asked if Ms. Kane had a copy of the bills that had already been submitted to the USDA; Ms. Kane said she did not.

“That’s not a good thing,” Ms. Serpa said. “If I pay a bill and you were the one paying for it, you and I should have proof of that. That hasn’t been happening.”

Selectman and board chairman Arthur Smadbeck said the responsibility rests with the water department.

“It’s up to you guys to figure out what you haven’t sent in to get the money back,” he said. “All you need to do is put it on the sheet and send it in to the USDA.”

Water commissioner Robert Burnham assured the selectmen that his department would track the receipts.

“The bills are there, we paid them, the physical bills should be somewhere; whether they got to the USDA or not is the question,” he said. “We need to figure out which bills went and which didn’t.”

Selectmen asked water department members to return in two weeks with a status report.

In other business, selectmen voted to support a new predisaster mitigation plan prepared by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. MVC planner JoAnn Taylor said a county and Islandwide disaster response plan created five years is up for renewal.