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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: 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.

DiNapoli: Local Sales Tax Collections Down 3.9 Percent for First Quarter of 2021

Sales tax revenue for local governments in New York State declined by 3.9 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, according to State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Sales tax collections from January through March totaled $4.3 billion, which was $173 million less than the first quarter of 2020.

DiNapoli: Middletown Chiropractor Sentenced to Nine Years for Insurance Fraud

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced James “Jay” Spina was sentenced in federal court for running a large-scale health care insurance fraud scheme. Spina and three co-conspirators systematically double-billed insurers, charged for services never rendered, created shell companies and falsified records to hide their crimes.

Spina pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and today was sentenced to serve 108 months (nine years) in federal prison, plus three years of probation and pay $9.7 million in restitution and forfeit $9.1 million.