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

Vertus Charter School – Information Technology (IT) Asset Management (Monroe County)

School officials did not appropriately track, inventory and safeguard IT assets acquired or in use during the audit period. Although the board-adopted financial policies and procedures manual required the chief operating officer to ensure accurate inventory records were maintained to safeguard all assets, it did not provide detailed guidance for maintaining inventory records for most IT assets because the dollar amount of most IT assets do not individually meet the policy’s inventory record-required threshold of $1,500 for fixed assets. In addition, the IT asset inventory was decentralized with multiple individuals and a service provider maintaining inventory records, which resulted in the records containing inconsistent information.

Port Washington Union Free School District – Payroll (Nassau County)

Auditors examined compensation totaling $449,510 that was paid to 40 of the district’s clerical, custodial, maintenance, security and transportation employees and found district officials designed and implemented policies and procedures that ensured the compensation paid was accurate. Therefore, the report does not contain recommendations.

Town of Cohocton – Procurement (Steuben County)

Town officials did not always solicit competition in accordance with the town’s procurement policy, statutory requirements or good business practices and stated it was an inconvenience for them to adhere to the town’s procurement policy. This resulted in procurements that were not made in the most prudent and economical manner. For example, of the $3.7 million in goods and services purchased between Jan. 1, 2023 and August 6, 2024, almost $2 million were procured without competition. The audit identified instances where officials and employees responsible for purchasing did not solicit competitive bids for purchases of goods totaling approximately $1.3 million from 10 vendors, for which auditors identified potential cost savings of $23,000 for vehicle and energy purchases. Officials also did not issue RFPs or use any other form of competitive process before procuring professional services from 15 providers totaling approximately $540,000. In addition, officials did not obtain the minimum number of quotes required by the town’s procurement policy for purchases totaling approximately $131,000 or the minimum number of required quotes for credit card purchases totaling approximately $21,000.

Germantown Central School District – Lead Testing and Reporting (Columbia County)

District officials did not properly identify, report or implement needed remediation to reduce lead exposure in all potable water outlets as required by state law and Department of Health regulations. Auditors determined 63 of the 146 water outlets identified that students, staff and the public may have access to and could consume water from, were not sampled or properly exempted by district officials. District officials also did not have a remedial action plan that detailed which water outlets they exempted from sampling and how they would be secured, and what remedial actions were planned or enacted for water outlets identified as exceeding the lead action level.

City of Yonkers – Budget Review (Westchester County)

The city’s 2025-26 adopted budget totals $1.55 billion, which includes operating and debt service funding of $809.2 million for the Yonkers Public Schools and $739.8 million for the city. The 2025-26 budget is $35.8 million more than the city’s budget for 2024-25, an increase of 2.4%. The 2025-26 budget relies on nonrecurring funding sources of $114.4 million, such as appropriated fund balance, one-time state and Federal funding and sale of property, to balance its budget. The city plans to borrow up to $15 million for tax certiorari settlements in the 2025-26 fiscal year. Overtime costs could potentially be underestimated for police by as much as $341,000. Employee retirement costs are likely underestimated by as much as $5.3 million. The city should be mindful to ensure appropriations are sufficient for any potential liabilities when contract agreements for collective bargaining agreements are reached. The city’s contingency reserve is 1.5% of the city’s general fund budgeted appropriations, leaving a limited flexibility to cover any other unforeseen or unexpected costs. Since 2017, the city’s debt service payments have risen 6.2% and the city will need $90.4 million to service its debt obligations during 2025-26.