New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced the following local government audits were issued.
Village of Airmont – Claims Auditing (Rockland County)
The board did not audit claims before payment to ensure they were for appropriate village purposes, accurate, and adequately supported. As a result, auditors identified overpayments and claims with insufficient documentation to ensure they were appropriate. Auditors reviewed 30 claims totaling $883,765 and determined that none of the claims were audited by the board. In addition, one vendor was overpaid $36,905 for snow plowing services due to the vendor’s use of the higher year-end Consumer Price Index rate instead of the monthly CPI rate. Six claims totaling $42,406 did not comply with the village’s purchasing policy and also did not contain sufficiently supported documentation to ensure claims were appropriate, accurate and approved.
Village of Argyle – Water Billings and Collections (Washington County)
Officials did not provide adequate oversight of water billing and collections. As a result, delinquent accounts were not enforced, and the village lost revenue. The clerk-treasurer did not maintain adequate water billing and collection accounting records and did not properly assess $4,330 in penalties on unpaid customer accounts. The board did not formally adopt the water billing rates charged to customers. In addition, the board did not enforce 39 unpaid customer accounts with unpaid balances totaling $14,458 for water bills from the September 2022 and March 2023 billings.
Town of Byron – Procurement (Genesee County)
The board and town officials did not always comply with state law or the town’s procurement policy. If they had, they may have saved money by using a state fuel contract and may have paid less for other goods and services. The board and town officials procured fuel totaling $59,795 without obtaining competitive bids as required by law and the town’s procurement policy. Furthermore, the town paid approximately $4,000 more than the state contract price for the more than 16,700 gallons purchased during the audit period. It also did not obtain quotes or request proposals in accordance with the town’s procurement policy for 10 purchases totaling $68,103. The town also did not use request for proposals or another competitive process to procure services from seven professional service providers totaling $630,336.
Crown Point Fire District – Board Oversight (Essex County)
The board did not adequately oversee the district’s financial operations. As a result, the board cannot assure that the district’s financial operations are adequately accounted for and reported. For the 24 months reviewed, the board did not receive treasurer’s reports of collection and disbursement details for three months; cash balances for two months; and bank reconciliations, bank statements and cancelled check images for 19 months. As a result, the board’s ability to assess and monitor the district’s financial activity was diminished. As of Dec. 31, 2023, required annual audits for 2017 through 2022 were not conducted. As a result, there is no independent verification that the secretary-treasurer has properly recorded collections and disbursements and maintained current and accurate records and reports. In addition, required annual financial reports for 2018 through 2022 were not filed.
Town of Exeter – Town Clerk/Tax Collector (Otsego County)
The clerk generally recorded collections accurately and deposited and remitted fees in a timely manner. However, the clerk did not always deposit real property taxes in a timely manner and did not remit these collections to the supervisor in a timely manner. Specifically, the clerk did not deposit 39 real property tax collections, totaling $505,197, within 24 hours of the date recorded as collected, without indication of the actual date of receipt or remit real property taxes to the supervisor on a weekly basis, as required by town law. Instead, the clerk made annual remittances in February, which kept the money from being productively used or invested to earn additional revenue.
Town of Exeter – Town Supervisor’s Records and Reports (Otsego County)
The supervisor did not maintain complete, accurate and timely financial records and reports, which hindered the board from monitoring the town’s financial condition. While revenues and expenditures were recorded accurately and in a timely manner, balance sheet accounts were not properly maintained due to carrying over unsupported balances for interfund activity, receivables, and cash balances from prior years. As a result, the general fund balance was overstated by $81,929. In addition, annual financial reports have not been filed since 2016, as required and the supervisor did not provide the board with his records for audit, as required.
City of Yonkers – Budget Review (Westchester County)
Some significant revenue and expenditure projections in the proposed budget are unreasonable. Officials continued the practice of using debt to pay for recurring costs. The review determined the city’s proposed budget continues to rely on $87.9 million in nonrecurring revenue, such as appropriated fund balance, one-time state funding and sale of property, to finance its operations and includes revenue estimates that may not be achievable.