Audit Objective
Did the Town of Kingsbury (Town) Board (Board) and officials develop and adopt a multiyear financial plan and fund balance and reserve policies?
Audit Period
January 1, 2022 – March 31, 2025
Understanding the Audit Area
Multiyear financial planning can be a vital tool that allows decision-makers, such as town boards (boards), to set long-term priorities, work toward goals several years into the future and increase transparency. Fund balance and reserve policies provide a framework to help guide budgetary decisions and multiyear plans, and also provide taxpayers with information about why resources have been set aside.
The Board is responsible for the overall management of the Town’s fund balance, including maintaining a reasonable level of fund balance and reserves as well as developing a written multiyear financial plan. As of December 31, 2024, the Town’s unrestricted fund balances totaled $1.7 million, and the Town’s one capital reserve totaled $207,055.
Audit Summary
The Board and officials did not develop and adopt a multiyear financial plan, a fund balance policy or a reserve policy. As a result, officials continued to accumulate unrestricted fund balance without defining the amounts the Board deemed necessary and without documenting future goals or expectations for the accumulation of funds.
Had the Board and officials developed and adopted a multiyear financial plan and fund balance and reserve policies, the goals of maintaining an adequate level of fund balance and improving the Town’s capital assets over time would have been more transparent to the Town’s residents and taxpayers. Furthermore, without such plans or policies, the Board cannot assess revenue trends, expenditure commitments, financial risks and the affordability of new services and/or capital investments over time.
The report includes four recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Town’s multiyear financial planning for fund balance and reserves. Town officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.
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. Our methodology and standards are included in Appendix C.
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.