Audit Objective
Did Village of Elmsford (Village) officials ensure employees' leave accruals and payments of unused leave accruals were accurate, approved and supported?
Audit Period
January 1, 2022 – September 30, 2024
Understanding the Audit Area
Village officials are responsible for ensuring employees’ leave accruals are accurately maintained and that payments for unused leave are properly calculated, authorized and supported. Effective oversight helps ensure employees receive only the compensation to which they are entitled, safeguards public resources, maintains accurate accounting records and financial reporting, ensures compliance with applicable laws, collective bargaining agreements and Village policies, and promotes accountability, transparency and public trust.
During the audit period, Village officials made unused leave payments totaling almost $1.1 million.
Audit Summary
Village officials did not ensure employees’ leave accruals and payments of unused leave accruals were accurate, approved and supported. Failing to ensure that employees’ leave accruals and payments are accurate, approved and supported resulted in employees being compensated for or taking leave to which they were not entitled and creates the potential for future errors. As a result, the Village incurred unnecessary salary-related expenditures.
Employees used leave accruals and received payments for unused leave accruals to which they were not entitled. Specifically, Village officials:
- Approved 11 buyouts for unused vacation and personal leave accruals totaling $38,070. However, the Village Hall’s employee handbook, which covers Village Hall employees, does not include a provision for the buyout of unused vacation or personal leave accruals for employees.
- Approved employee leave requests without ensuring employees had sufficient leave accrual balances in 26 instances totaling 311 hours of unavailable leave valued at $11,659.
- Made nine payments for unused vacation and personal leave accruals that were inaccurate, with overpayments totaling $8,054.
The report includes seven recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Village’s leave accrual administration, improve the accuracy and oversight of leave usage and payouts, and help ensure leave benefits are administered in accordance with applicable collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), employment contracts and Village policies. Village officials generally agreed with our findings and indicated they plan 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 Village Board (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 Village Clerk’s office.