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September 02, 2015

Audit reports for certain governmental entities posted on September 1, 2015


Audit reports for certain governmental entities posted on September 1, 2015
Source: Office of the State Comptroller

On September 1, 2015 New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced his office completed audits of the governmental entities listed and summarized below. Click on the material highlighted in color below to access the full report.

Ballston Spa Public Library
The board has not established procedures for the library’s collection and disbursement of donated funds, or for cash receipts collected at the circulation desk. The treasurer has not maintained adequate records for the money received from donations and fundraising activities. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/libraries/2015/ballstonspa.pdf

Bovina Fire District
The district’s available fund balance has accumulated to more than 400 percent of the 2015 budgeted appropriations as of the end of 2014. In addition, the board has not formally established capital reserves. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/firedists/2015/bovina.pdf

Brighton Memorial Library
The library has accumulated more than $750,000 in private funds as of the end of 2014 and it has no formal plan to use the money. The library maintains approximately $627,000 in mutual funds, fixed income securities and cash equivalents with two investment brokerage firms; these are improper investments at unauthorized financial institutions. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/libraries/2015/brighton.pdf

Village of Cape Vincent
Payroll duties are not adequately segregated and there is no periodic management review of transactions, certification of payrolls or review of leave records. The board also did not clearly document its authorization of compensation for all village employees. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/villages/2015/capevincent.pdf

Town of Cayuta
The board did not adopt, review, update or enforce adequate financial policies to ensure town resources were protected. The former clerk did not routinely issue duplicate receipts, record daily cash receipts properly, or make deposits intact. As a result, auditors identified a cash shortage of $465. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/towns/2015/cayuta.pdf

Commack Public Library District
District officials did not adopt a procurement policy as required by state law. The board did not ensure disbursements from the discretionary fund were made in accordance with district bylaws. In addition, the board appointed an independent contractor as treasurer.
http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/libraries/2015/commack.pdf

Galen-Clyde Joint Fire District
The board could not appropriately monitor the district budget because it did not receive budget status reports. Auditors found the district routinely overspent its budget for the three-year period from 2011 through 2013. In addition, the board did not implement appropriate policies to protect information technology assets. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/firedists/2015/galenclyde.pdf

City of Geneva
The city adopted unrealistic budgets from 2012-2014 because the manager did not use historical trends or prior year amounts when producing budgets. During this same time, fund balance was appropriated to finance operations and overall fund balance levels decreased significantly. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/cities/2015/geneva.pdf

Town of Malone
The justices did not properly segregate cash receipt duties and did not provide oversight for receiving, depositing, recording and reporting cash receipts. In addition, accurate and complete bail records were not maintained and bank reconciliations and accountability analyses were not performed for all court bank accounts. The town also lacked comprehensive policies and procedures for preparing and processing payroll and maintaining leave time accruals for highway department employees. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/towns/2015/malonejc.pdf

Village of Nelliston
The board did not establish policies and procedures to provide guidance to village employees or implement sufficient controls over leave accruals and payroll timekeeping to ensure that leave time was accurately accounted for. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/villages/2015/nelliston.pdf

Town of Tuscarora
The town supervisor signed checks and reviewed monthly reports, but did not review bank reconciliations to ensure information recorded and reported was accurate. The board has not received any monthly financial reports since February 2015. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/towns/2015/tuscarora.pdf

Central Valley School District
The treasurer does not oversee the application of her signature on checks or compare checks to the warrant prior to issuance. Consequently, there is an increased risk that improper disbursements or payment errors could occur. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2015/centralvalley.pdf

Cornwall Central School District
District officials enacted budgets with planned operating deficits and used approximately $1.9 million of fund balance to finance district operations in fiscal years 2011-12 through 2013-14. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2015/cornwall.pdf
 

Cuba-Rushford Central School District
District officials overestimated expenditures by a total of $8.5 million over a four-year period ranging from 7 to 14 percent more than actual expenditures. In addition, unrestricted fund balance annually exceeded statutory limits and reserves are overfunded by approximately $3.2 million. 

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2015/cubarushford.pdf

DeRuyter Central School District
In the past three fiscal years the board appropriated $675,000, $525,000 and $376,626 in fund balance to finance operations. In addition, the district has used general fund money to help subsidize the school lunch fund operations over the past several years. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2015/deruyter.pdf

Margaretville Central School District
The board did not effectively manage the fund balance of the general fund. As a result, the district had unrestricted fund balance in the general fund totaling $670,000 (6.2 percent) of the following year’s appropriations as of June 30, 2014 and reserve fund balances that increased by almost $2 million (131 percent) over a five-year period. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2015/margaretville.pdf

Newburgh Preparatory Charter High School
The board did not receive adequate monthly financial records, did not establish a sound budget process and did not obtain a required independent audit of the school’s financial records. Without accurate financial reports, the board had no assurance that expenditures did not exceed budgeted amounts and could not take proper timely actions when more than $26,000 in cash shortages occurred. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2015/newburghprep.pdf

Trumansburg Central School District
The district’s menus were certified as being compliant with the new federal meal pattern requirements. However, district meals cost more to prepare than the revenue generated by sales. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2015/trumansburg.pdf

and

Wappingers Central School District
Despite the use of a fuel management system, district officials do not review system activity reports to identify anomalies regarding quantities dispensed, fueling times and the odometer readings entered by employees. As a result, the district cannot properly account for how much fuel is pumped into specific vehicles and by whom. http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2015/wappingers.pdf

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NYPPL Blogger Harvey Randall served as Principal Attorney, New York State Department of Civil Service; Director of Personnel, SUNY Central Administration; Director of Research, Governor’s Office of Employee Relations; and Staff Judge Advocate General, New York Guard. Consistent with the Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations, the material posted to this blog is presented with the understanding that neither the publisher nor NYPPL and, or, its staff and contributors are providing legal advice to the reader and in the event legal or other expert assistance is needed, the reader is urged to seek such advice from a knowledgeable professional.
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