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August 16, 2010

State auditors find former Sodus Town Clerk embezzled town funds

State auditors find former Sodus Town Clerk embezzled town funds
Source: Office of the State Comptroller

An audit report released on August 10, 2010 by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli indicates that a former Sodus town clerk embezzled approximately $50,000 during the period January 1, 2008 to September 28, 2009.

The Comptroller’s audit was limited to a review of the clerk's monthly and annual reports and did not include an examination of the books, records, cancelled checks and check images.

The auditors found that when collecting taxes, water rents and clerk fees, the clerk took some of the cash payments and used the interest and penalties paid by others to cover the amounts taken.

In addition, the auditors noted that the board had not establish adequate policies and procedures to safeguard computerized data and assets.

The Comptroller's audit states that the objective of the audit was to determine if the former Town Clerk was properly recording, reporting and distributing all moneys received by her office for the period January 1, 2008 to September 28, 2009 and addressed the following related questions:

1. Did the former Town Clerk record, deposit, disburse and report all clerk fees, real property
taxes and water rents that she received in a timely and accurate manner?

2. Did the Board implement adequate internal control policies and procedures to protect and
account for Town assets?

The Auditors found that the former Town Clerk did not accurately record and deposit all moneys collected, resulting in a shortage of over $50,000 and has admitted that she embezzled Town funds for the last eight years.

Additionally, the reports states that the Board retained the responsibility for examining the Town Clerk’s books and records but did not perform an adequate examination of the former Town Clerk’s supporting books, records, receipts, canceled checks or check images. The Board’s examination consisted only of reviews of the former Town Clerk’s monthly and annual reports.

As a result, the Board was not aware that the former Town Clerk did not keep complete and accurate records and reports of receipts and disbursements, perform regular and competent reconciliations of those records to the bank accounts, and properly deposit moneys and issue payments in a timely manner.

DiNapoli recommended the board and incumbent Town Clerk:

1. Take appropriate action to recover town monies from the former town clerk;

2. Adequately support and deposit all monies received into the proper accounts intact and in a timely fashion;

3. Reconcile accounts on a monthly basis and analyze and reconcile available cash with liabilities;

4. Perform or contract for a thorough annual examination of the town clerk’s financial operations; and

5. Adopt information technology policies and procedures that address user access rights.

The Comptroller’s office said that Town officials generally agreed with these recommendations and plan to take corrective action.

The complete text of the Comptroller's report is posted on the Internet at:
http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/towns/2010/sodus.pdf

Other recent reports issued by the Officer of the State Comptroller are listed below. Click on the highlighted caption to access the full report posted on the Internet.

Report: New York is "Nationwide Pension Leader" and CRF is "Highest Funded" in U.S. Comptroller DiNapoli released a statement on Wednesday in response to an article in Governing magazine that cites New York as the nationwide pension leader.

DiNapoli Shines a Light on Public Authorities Despite employing 159,000 people and spending $44 billion annually, New York's 1,100 state and local public authorities remain largely unknown and unrecognized entities, according to a report released by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Recent legislative changes have begun to improve reporting by and oversight of these entities.

DiNapoli: Local Governments Need to do Better at Preventing Fraud and Abuse More than 51 fraud and abuse cases totaling approximately $10 million have been uncovered in local governments and school districts across New York since 2007, according to a report released on Tuesday by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

DiNapoli's Office Completes Audit Of Nassau Health Care Corp. State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli on Thursday announced his office completed the audit report: Nassau Health Care Corporation (NuHealth) - Faculty Practice Plan (FPP).

DiNapoli: Town Of Wales' Property Tax Increases Were Unnecessary The Town of Wales failed to adopt realistic budgets and, over the past 10 years, continued to raise taxes despite excessive fund balances, according to an audit released on Wednesday by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

DiNapoli: Learning Center Collected Funds For Services Not Rendered An audit released by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli found that the Rainbow Rhymes Learning Center (Rainbow) of the Bronx spent nearly a half million dollars in reported expenses that were either not adequately supported, not program appropriate or were claimed for a period Rainbow was not entitled to reimbursement. Furthermore, auditors found Rainbow did not provide significant contract deliverables including no after school program for inner city children at one facility.
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