Town of Danby – Audit Follow-Up (2022M-127-F)

Issued Date
November 21, 2025

 [read complete report – pdf] | [read complete 2022 report – pdf]

Purpose of Review

The purpose of our review was to assess the Town of Danby’s (Town’s) progress, as of August 2025, in implementing our recommendations in the audit report Town of Danby – Claims Processing and Procurement (2022M-127), released in December 2022. 

The audit determined that: 

  • The Town  Board did not always seek competition when procuring goods and services or ensure all claims were properly audited and approved.
  • Town officials did not solicit bids for five commodities totaling $197,266 or obtain the minimum required quotes for purchases totaling $80,360.
  • The Board approved unsupported claims totaling $223,781 for payment.
  • The Board approved 19 claims twice, resulting in duplicate payments totaling $33,282.
  • 44 of 97 credit card purchases, totaling $12,695, reviewed were paid prior to Board audit and 13 purchases totaling $4,936 were never presented to the Board for audit.
  • The Board did not monitor the health insurance payments to the former Town Supervisor (Supervisor), resulting in overpayments totaling at least $12,043.

The audit included 14 recommendations to help the Board and Town officials monitor and improve their claims processing and procurement activities.

Background

The Town is located in Tompkins County and is governed by the elected five-member Board, which includes the Town Supervisor. The Board is responsible for general oversight of the Town’s operations and finances.

The Supervisor serves as the chief fiscal officer and is responsible for the day-to-day operations. The Town’s bookkeeper assists the Supervisor by maintaining accounting records and generating financial reports. The Town has an elected Highway Superintendent (Superintendent) who is responsible for overseeing all highway department operations. The elected Town Clerk (Clerk) is the Clerk of the Board and is responsible for preparing and certifying an abstract of audited claims, authorizing the Supervisor to make payments.

Results of Review

Of the 14 audit recommendations, The Board and Town officials failed to implement any of the 14 audit recommendations and were unable to provide reasonable explanations for their lack of action.