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NEWS from the Office of the New York State Comptroller
Contact: Press Office 518-474-4015

State Comptroller DiNapoli Releases Municipal Audits

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

Auditors conducted reviews of 20 adopted budgets of various counties, cities, towns and villages across the state to assess whether local officials adequately considered the impact of the pandemic on their financial operations while developing their 2021 fiscal year budgets. Below are the findings of some of the communities reviewed:

DiNapoli: Former Mechanics at State Police Garage Charged With Public Corruption and Grand Larceny

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and New York State Police Acting Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen announced the arrests of former state police mechanics Jeffrey Rapasadi and David Relyea in the theft of nearly $30,000 in auto parts and supplies from the state. The thefts allegedly took place between April 2015 and October 2020.

Overtime at State Agencies Reached All-Time High in 2020

The total cost of overtime in 2020 at state agencies reached an all-time high at more than $850 million, continuing an upward trend over the last decade and spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released today by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Total overtime hours of 19 million increased 3.9 percent and total overtime earnings increased 5.5 percent from 2019.

DiNapoli: Gaming Commission Slow to Collect Casino Fees

The state Gaming Commission has made only limited progress fixing problems with its monitoring of casinos, especially with its failure to collect millions in oversight fees from casinos, according to a follow-up report released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The problems were first identified in an audit DiNapoli released in 2020 that found the commission had not collected $13 million owed by casinos.

State Contract and Payment Actions in March

In March, the Office of the State Comptroller approved 1,696 contracts for state agencies and public authorities valued at $2.3 billion and approved nearly 27.1 million payments worth more than $40.8 billion. The Office rejected 137 contracts and related transactions valued at $160 million and nearly 17,100 payments valued at nearly $46 million, primarily for mistakes, insufficient support for charges, and improper payments. More information on these contracts and payments is available at www.openbooknewyork.com.

DiNapoli: Saranac Town Clerk Arrested for Falsifying Town Records

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and Clinton County District Attorney Andrew J. Wylie announced the arrest of Mary L. Bell, Clerk of the Town of Saranac. Bell, 54, was arrested Thursday for allegedly falsifying records to hide her failure to deposit more than $800 in cash payments to the town that she collected as Clerk. Her actions allegedly took place from April 2017 to August 2017.