New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced the following local government audits were issued.

Town of Coxsackie – Supervisor’s Records and Reports (Greene County)

The supervisor’s failure to maintain complete and accurate records or adequately provide monthly reporting to the board reduced transparency, prevented it from properly monitoring financial operations, and increased the risk that unauthorized or inappropriate transactions could occur and go undetected. The town’s accounting system was not properly set up and financial activity was not recorded using proper accounting procedures. The town’s fund balance accounts had errors totaling $833,153. For example, the general town-wide fund was understated by $337,470 and the highway part-town fund was overstated by $363,081. The supervisor filed an incorrect Annual Financial Report (AFR) and did not file the AFR on time. The board did not audit the supervisor’s records as required by law. The accounting errors and untimely filing may have been detected had the board annually audited the supervisor’s records.

Lewis County Industrial Development Agency (LCIDA) – Staff Services Agreements

The board entered into written staff services agreements with Naturally Lewis Inc., a not-for-profit corporation, to provide general administrative and staff support services to LCIDA for the last quarter of 2023 and for 2024. However, the board did not ensure the fees paid to the corporation were accurately calculated and paid according to the agreements, resulting in LCIDA overpaying $316,597 for such services – 172% more than the written agreements required. In addition, LCIDA paid a fee for one project which was not approved by the board. Had the board exercised appropriate oversight, it might have identified and corrected these errors.

Town of Alden – Town Supervisor (Erie County)

The former supervisor did not always follow basic accounting principles by preparing or maintaining complete and accurate accounting records or providing sufficient financial reports to the board. The supervisor did not always adhere to basic internal controls that are designed to help ensure funds are safeguarded and accounted for. Because the board did not receive adequate financial reporting, it was not aware of the town’s financial status and therefore adopted unrealistic budgets. Without adequate accounting controls and accurate and timely financial information, the supervisor and board cannot make informed financial decisions. The former supervisor did not always record collections in a timely manner during 2023, with an average of 40 days between the collection date and the recording date or maintain accurate accounting records or prepare monthly bank reconciliations. As a result, the total cash balance in the 2023 Annual Financial Report was overstated by over $76,000 when compared to the cash balances of the accounting records.

Town of Alden – Town Clerk/Tax Collector (Erie County)

The clerk did not properly record, deposit, remit or report collections resulting in a greater risk for theft or loss. In addition, the clerk accumulated unremitted funds totaling $138,050 in the tax collection bank accounts. The funds should have been remitted to the town supervisor, a school district or refunded to taxpayers. Most of the unremitted funds, or $84,757, should have been returned to taxpayers who overpaid their taxes. However, only a limited number of taxpayers received their refund since 2021. Retaining the collections prevented the funds from being productively used by town officials and taxpayers. The clerk also did not always date stamp real property tax receipts, including 66% of town and county and 47% of school real property tax receipts, resulting in the potential for missing funds and the misuse of funds increasing significantly. The clerk also did not properly deposit all real property tax collections or all clerk fees in accordance with the law.

Town of Leicester – Financial Management (Livingston County)

The board did not effectively manage the town’s fund balance and continued to unrealistically estimate revenues and appropriations in the adopted budgets. The board also did not correct the deficiencies noted in a prior audit released in November 2015, adopt written fund balance or reserve policies or properly establish reserves. In addition, the board did not ensure it received up-to-date, accurate financial reports in a timely manner, which hindered its adoption of realistic budgets and multiyear financial or capital plans. Officials maintained significant unrestricted fund balance in the town-wide (TW) and town-outside-village (TOV) funds that, as of Jan. 1, 2024, were sufficient to fund the entire 2024 budgeted appropriations. The board continued to unrealistically estimate revenues and appropriations in the 2025 budget, which will likely result in operating surpluses that will further increase the significant fund balances in the general and highway TW and TOV funds.

Town of Windsor – Financial Management (Broome County)

The board did not effectively manage the town’s fund balance or develop a written multiyear financial plan. In addition, the board’s preliminary budgets also did not include fund balance estimates with a breakdown by fund to assist officials in preparing and approving the final budget and providing transparency to the taxpayers and residents. Due to the board’s budgeting practices, officials generated net operating surpluses totaling nearly $2.7 million instead of planned operating deficits totaling $482,700 in the general fund town-wide (TW), general fund town-outside-village (TOV) and highway fund TOV during the four-year audit period. As a result, more taxes may have been levied than needed. Officials also increased unrestricted fund balance from Dec. 31, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2023 by 96%, 93% and 93% in the general fund TW, general fund TOV and highway fund TOV, respectively. Officials underestimated sales tax revenues by approximately $1.3 million in the highway fund TOV and overestimated employer retirement contributions by approximately $298,100 in the main operating funds.

Henrietta Fire District – Distribution of Foreign Fire Insurance (FFI) Tax Proceeds (Monroe County)

District officials did not properly distribute the 2024 FFI tax proceeds because the treasurer miscalculated the distribution. The treasurer used the 2023 pro-rata allocation percentage to distribute a portion of the 2024 FFI tax proceeds instead of using the 2024 pro-rata allocation percentage. Although the chief and a board member reviewed the treasurer’s distribution calculations, prior to the treasurer making the distributions, the miscalculation was not identified by either individual. As a result, two fire companies received more money than their pro-rata share ($1,322 and $61, respectively), and the paid firefighting personnel and remaining fire company received less than their pro-rata share ($1,134 and $249, respectively).

Monroe No. 1 Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) – Credit Cards

BOCES officials did not ensure that all credit card charges were properly approved and supported. Therefore, it could not be determined whether all charges were for appropriate BOCES purposes. Additionally, officials did not ensure that credit card charges were reconciled to receipts in a timely manner and audited, as required, prior to payment. Auditors reviewed 532 credit card charges totaling $138,238 and determined that 461 charges totaling $110,539 had one or more exceptions. Auditors found 424 charges totaling $99,308 were paid prior to audit and approval by the claims auditor, 166 charges totaling $35,927 did not have adequate support including a specific BOCES purpose and 97 charges totaling $12,938 required pre-approval but were not properly approved before the purchase.

Town of Rutland – Town Clerk/Tax Collector (Jefferson County)

The clerk did not always record, deposit, remit and report all collections accurately and in a timely manner. Due to deficiencies in the records, it is unclear whether eight recorded cash and check collections totaling $161 were deposited in the bank and whether cash collections totaling $8,224 were deposited in a timely manner. In addition, collections totaling $5,806 were deposited but not recorded in the records and seven monthly reports and remittances to the supervisor and other agencies were submitted 16 to 178 days late. The clerk also did not make 11 deposits of real property taxes totaling $191,581 in a timely manner and remit taxes to the supervisor and county treasurer within the timeframes specified by law. The clerk also did not complete monthly bank reconciliations and accountability analyses to help identify and correct errors. As a result, the clerk bank account had a cash shortage of $647 as of Dec. 1, 2023, and the tax bank account had an unidentified cash balance of $4,375 as of Oct. 31, 2024. Additionally, the board did not perform an annual audit of the clerk’s records, as required, which could have assisted officials in detecting and addressing the deficiencies sooner.

Town of Rutland – Water and Sewer Charges (Jefferson County)

The clerk did not properly bill water and sewer charges. Auditors identified a total of $8,823 in billing errors that resulted in $4,634 in overcharges to customer accounts and $4,189 in undercharges. Of 81 customer account billing adjustments tested for 2022 and 2023, 80 adjustments totaling $57,083 were not reviewed or approved by the board and 41 of these adjustments totaling $5,808 had no documented reason or support for the adjustments. In addition, the board did not formally authorize all billing rates charged by the town and did not develop and adopt written policies and procedures to provide guidance on water and sewer billings and account adjustments. Lastly, no one independent of the billing process reviewed quarterly billing reports to help ensure meter readings, estimated readings and amounts billed were accurate.

Town of Bethlehem – Information Technology (Albany County)

The town board and officials did not develop and adopt an Information Technology (IT) contingency plan or breach notification policy, periodically test data backups or provide employees with security awareness training. Sensitive IT control weaknesses were communicated confidentially to officials. As a result, the town’s IT systems and its personal, private and sensitive information may be accessible to unauthorized use, access and loss. Officials also have minimal assurance that in the event of a disruption or disaster that employees and other responsible parties would be able to react quickly and effectively to help resume, restore or repair critical IT systems or data in a timely manner. Officials also did not monitor employee internet use. Although the town’s computer and internet use policy in the employee manual prohibits employees from using town-owned computers for personal use, officials and employees were not in compliance with the policy.