Audit Objective
Did Village of Unadilla (Village) officials ensure that disbursements were accurate, properly approved, supported and for proper Village purposes?
Audit Period
March 1, 2017 – March 31, 2022.
We extended our audit period back to January 1, 2017, to examine leave buybacks and forward to July 18, 2024, to examine credit card disbursements, updates to the employee handbook and updated information regarding Village Board (Board) audits of the Village Clerk-Treasurer’s (Clerk-Treasurer’s) records and reports.
Understanding the Audit Area
A village board must provide adequate oversight of disbursements to help ensure financial accountability, prevent the misuse of village funds, maintain compliance with legal requirements, promote transparency and build public trust.
During the audit period, the Village made non-payroll disbursements totaling approximately $3 million and payroll-related disbursements totaling approximately $900,000.
Audit Summary
Village officials did not ensure that disbursements were accurate, properly approved, supported and for appropriate Village purposes. As a result, Village officials and taxpayers cannot be sure that all Village disbursements were necessary and for appropriate Village purposes.
Overall, because Village officials did not have adequate internal controls over disbursements (such as sufficient supporting documentation, a Board audit or approval and adequate oversight of employee reimbursements, credit card use and payroll-related payments), we identified one or more deficiencies within 249 disbursements (or 76 percent of the disbursements) totaling $70,600, which we reviewed. When officials make disbursements without adequate supporting documentation, it undermines the transparency of Village financial operations and increases the risk that disbursements could be made for improper purposes and that individuals could be reimbursed for expenses for which they are not entitled.
We reviewed 328 disbursements totaling approximately $115,800 – which included leave buybacks and separation payments, benefit reimbursements, credit card purchases, and disbursements to high-risk vendors1 – that were made during the audit period. We identified the following:
- Of 155 employee benefit reimbursements totaling $34,000, 145 disbursements totaling $29,300 were not supported; not approved by the Board (or we could not determine whether the Board approved them); and/or were paid before the Board approved them. Of the 145 disbursements, 111 totaling $16,100 benefited Clerk-Treasurer 2.2
- Of 22 leave buybacks and separation payments totaling $44,200, 21 totaling $33,200 were paid to ineligible individuals, did not have information that would allow us to determine eligibility, and/or were not properly charged to leave accruals. Also, the Board did not approve any of the disbursements. One former employee received $13,000 of the $33,200.
- Of 133 credit card purchases totaling $11,600, 83 purchases totaling $6,100 were not properly supported.
- The Village paid nearly $1,900 in 54 disbursements for data services that it did not need.
- Clerk-Treasurer 2 overpaid herself by $1,215 over the course of her employment. As a result of our audit, in April 2024, Clerk-Treasurer 2 reimbursed the Village for the full amount of excess payroll disbursements that she received.
The report includes 13 recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Village’s oversight of disbursements to employees and officials.
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 Clerk-Treasurer’s office.
1 High-risk vendors are those that sell goods and services that could also be used for personal use and not specifically for appropriate Village use, such as home goods, cleaning supplies and services and utility payments.
2 Refer to Appendix A for further information on the three Clerk-Treasurers mentioned in the report.