Audit Objective 

Determine whether the Town of Alden (Town) Town Clerk (Clerk) properly recorded, deposited, remitted and reported collections.

Key Findings 

The Clerk did not properly record, deposit, remit or report collections. As a result, collections were at greater risk for theft or loss. In addition, the Clerk accumulated unremitted funds totaling $138,050 in the tax collection bank accounts. The funds should have been remitted to the Town Supervisor (Supervisor), a school district or refunded to taxpayers. Most of the unremitted funds or $84,757 should have been returned to taxpayers who overpaid their taxes; only a limited number of taxpayers received their refund since 2021. Retaining the collections prevented the funds from being productively used by Town officials and taxpayers. The Clerk also did not: 

• Always date stamp real property tax receipts – 66 percent of Town and County and 47 percent of school real property tax receipts were not date stamped when they were received. As a result, the potential for missing funds and the misuse of funds increases significantly.
• Properly deposit all real property tax collections in accordance with New York State Town Law (Town Law) Section 35.
• Deposit all Clerk fees in accordance with Town Law Section 30.

Recommendations 

The audit report includes 11 recommendations to the Clerk which, if implemented, will improve controls over collections. The Clerk generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated she has initiated corrective action.