Audit Objective
Did the Town of Wethersfield (Town) Board (Board) properly plan for and manage the Highway Department (Department) building capital project?
Audit Period
January 1, 2020 – March 5, 2025
We extended our audit period to November 1, 2007 to review Board meeting minutes related to the capital project.
Understanding the Audit Area
The Board is responsible for the oversight and management of capital projects, including ensuring they are properly planned and managed. Local governments, including towns, undertake capital projects to acquire, develop, improve or maintain various facilities, other infrastructure and/or equipment. These projects are generally large in scale, require large sums of money and are long-term.
In May 2017, the Board acknowledged the need for a capital project for a new Department building, including a road salt storage shed (salt shed). From January 1, 2020 through March 5, 2025, the Board approved expenditures totaling approximately $243,500 for this project, including the purchase of approximately 25 acres of land.
Audit Summary
The Board did not properly plan for or manage the Department building capital project. Specifically, the Board did not:
- Develop and adopt a written multiyear capital plan.
- Create and follow a capital project budget.
Because the Board did not properly plan for or manage the Department building capital project, the Board spent approximately $243,500 of Town funds to purchase property and goods and services that may not be used. The property that was purchased more than five years ago remains undeveloped and officials have no formal plans for development. Although officials paid $85,000 about two years ago for precast concrete wall blocks, officials have not scheduled a delivery date for the wall blocks and owe an additional $37,000 once delivered.
In addition, the Board improperly established a $1 million reserve fund in the Town’s general fund. Although the Town Attorney notified the Board in October 2023 that the Board did not properly establish a capital reserve fund, the Board did not take appropriate action to remedy the situation.
The report includes seven recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Town’s capital project planning and management procedures. Town officials disagreed with certain aspects of our findings but indicated that they planned to initiate corrective action. Appendix D includes our comment on issues raised in the Town’s response.
We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the State Comptroller’s authority as set forth in Article 3 of the New York State General Municipal Law (GML). Our methodology and standards are included in Appendix E.
The Board has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. A written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the findings and recommendations in this report should be prepared and provided to our office within 90 days, pursuant to Section 35 of the New York State General Municipal Law. For more information on preparing and filing your CAP, please refer to our brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which you received with the draft audit report. We encourage the Board to make the CAP available for public review in the Town Clerk’s office.