New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced his office completed audits of Auburn Enlarged City School District, Bridgehampton Union Free School District, Elmsford Union Free School District, Florida Union Free School District and the Palmyra-Macedon Central School District.

"In today's fiscal climate, budget transparency and accountability for our local communities is a top priority," said DiNapoli. "By auditing municipal finances and operations, my office continues to provide taxpayers the assurance that their money is being spent appropriately and effectively."

Auburn Enlarged City School District – Employee Compensation and Benefits (Cayuga County)

District officials have generally established effective payroll-related policies and procedures. However, they have not established formal and adequate policies and procedures related to the processing of payroll outside of normal pay dates such as when employees do not submit payroll information in a timely manner. Additionally, district officials did not develop policies or procedures related to the periodic review and reconciliation of payroll withholdings, deductions and contributions, to ensure accuracy.

Bridgehampton Union Free School District – Claims Auditing (Suffolk County)

Except for minor discrepancies, auditors found that claims were for appropriate purposes, adequately documented, properly audited and approved before payment.

Elmsford Union Free School District – Fixed Assets (Westchester County)

The district's fixed asset policy does not establish a threshold value for tagging assets. In addition, the IT department does not have written procedures for maintaining IT inventory. Also, fixed assets were not tagged as district property for 26 items valued at $144,421.

Florida Union Free School District – Information Technology (Orange County)

The district does not provide or require employees to attend any formal cybersecurity awareness training. Controls over personal, private and sensitive information collected, processed, transmitted and stored also have not been developed. The district does not have service level agreements for services provided by Orange-Ulster BOCES and Mid-Hudson Regional Information Center which could lead to confusion over roles and responsibilities of each party.

Palmyra-Macedon Central School District – Transportation State Aid (Wayne County)

District officials did not always submit Form SA-16 promptly to ensure the timely receipt of transportation state aid. Auditors reviewed all 19 of the district's new bus purchases during the audit period and found that district officials had submitted Form SA-16 to SED for 15 of the buses purchased. However, five of these were for buses purchased during the 2014-15 fiscal year, totaling $389,249, and weren't submitted until after receiving notification of the pending state audit. Additionally, district officials had not submitted proper forms for four buses purchased during the 2016-17 fiscal year.

For access to state and local government spending, public authority financial data and information on 140,000 state contracts, visit Open Book New York. The easy-to-use website was created to promote transparency in government and provide taxpayers with better access to financial data.