New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following audits have been issued during the week ending April 8, 2022:
Click on the text highlighted in color to access the complete audit
report.
School Districts
George Junior Republic
Union Free School District – Website Transparency (Tompkins County) Although
school district officials maintain a website, certain financial information was
either not posted or comprehensive, resulting in a lack of transparency.
Officials did not post external audit reports, original and final annual
budgets, or board meeting minutes as required.
Hancock Central School
District – Non-Resident Student Tuition (Delaware County) Officials did not
establish non-resident tuition (NRT) rates in the best interest of school
district taxpayers. The board approved NRT contracts between the district and Wayne
Highlands School District
without performing a cost-benefit analysis. Over the past three school years,
the board approved Wayne Highlands NRT rates that were less than the New York
State Education Department’s maximum allowable rates and actual BOCES costs by
a total of $1.29 million, or an average of $430,000 each school year.
LaFargeville Central
School District – Information Technology (Jefferson County) District
officials did not establish adequate IT controls over physical IT assets and
non-student user account access to the district’s network. In addition to
sensitive IT control weaknesses, auditors found that 235 IT assets costing $108,462
were not recorded in the district’s inventory records, and seven computers, two
audio systems, one projector and 10 other electronic components that cost
$9,266 could not be found.
Northport – East Northport
Union Free School District – Extra-Classroom Activity Fund (Suffolk County)
Extra-classroom activity (ECA) funds were not properly collected, recorded,
remitted, deposited, disbursed and reconciled. The district did not have proper
procedures or a faculty auditor. Collections totaling $5,767 were not recorded
in the accounting records and were not deposited in the bank and collections of
$845,258 were missing key support. Records to support transactions totaling
$134,449 were missing and 95 payment request forms totaling $66,149 either had
no supporting documents or they lacked key information.
Oswego City School District – Separation Payments (Oswego County) District officials did not accurately calculate separation payments or benefits for five of the 10 employees reviewed. Officials made separation payments totaling $38,477 that were inconsistent with language in the employees’ CBA or employment contract.
Otego-Unadilla Central
School District – Information Technology (Otsego County) The board and
district officials did not ensure computerized data was safeguarded. In
addition to sensitive IT control weaknesses, auditors found the district had 58
unneeded user accounts and officials did not provide IT security awareness
training. The board also did not adopt a written IT contingency plan.
Seneca Falls Central
School District – Procurement (Seneca County) District officials did not
always use a competitive process to procure goods and services to achieve the
optimal use of district resources. Auditors reviewed 40 purchases and found 21
lacked competition or documentation to support an exception from competition.
District officials did not competitively procure or document an exception from
soliciting competition for services provided by six professional service
providers that were paid a total of $895,668. The district also did not have
written agreements with three professional service providers paid $112,262.
Wilson Central School
District – Financial Management (Niagara County) The board and district
officials did not properly manage fund balance and reserves. As of June 30, 2021, the recalculated
surplus fund balance was $3.3 million, which exceeds the 4% statutory limit by
8 percentage points. District officials improperly restricted more than $1.6
million in the debt reserve fund. Workers’ compensation reserves fund balance
of $836,000 can fund the average workers’ compensation expenditures for 26
years. Unemployment reserve balance of about $400,000 is nearly 200 times the
average unemployment expenditure. By maintaining surplus funds in excess of the
statutory limit and maintaining excess reserves, real property taxes may have
been higher than necessary.
Wyandanch Union Free
School District – Budget Review (Suffolk County) Auditors found that the
significant revenue and expenditure projections in the proposed budget were
reasonable. The district’s proposed budget complies with the tax levy limit
because it includes a tax levy of $23,105,027, which is within the limits
established by law.
Municipal Audits
Town of Coventry – Town Clerk/Tax Collector
(Chenango County) The clerk did not record, deposit, remit or report all
collections in a timely manner. As a result, the town’s collections were at a
greater risk of being lost or misappropriated. The clerk did not accurately
record all real property tax collections and deposited some collections and
fees months after they were received. As of July 31, 2021, a portion of real property tax penalties
collected ($1,601), a taxpayer’s double payment ($1,465), and a portion of
clerk fees collected ($1,075) were not remitted or refunded to the appropriate
parties. The board did not conduct the required annual audit of the clerk’s
records.
Town of Delhi – Highway
Department Leave Records (Delaware County) Town officials did not
accurately maintain employee leave records. Leave balances for the former
deputy highway superintendent from 2015 through 2019 were overstated by a total
of 362 hours valued at almost $8,000. Of this, 272.5 hours was from leave time
not being properly recorded, while 89 hours was attributed to the deputy’s
failure to use sick leave for lost time due to an occupational injury, which
resulted in an overpayment of his health and dental premiums of $6,411. The
2018 and 2019 leave balances of six of the other seven department employees
were overstated by 94 hours. Based upon this examination and investigation of
discrepancies the former deputy was arrested in September 2020 and charged with
grand larceny in the third degree.
Town of Gaines – Town
Clerk/Tax Collector (Orleans County) The clerk did not adequately perform
her financial duties. The clerk did not deposit collections in a timely manner
or perform bank reconciliations. The board also did not perform an annual audit
of the clerk’s records, as required by New York State Town Law Section 123.
Town of Morehouse –
Records and Reports (Hamilton County) The supervisor did not maintain the
town’s accounting records and reports in a complete, accurate, up-to-date or
timely manner. The town’s accounting records were not reliable and $2,082,924
in revenues and $673,497 in disbursements were not recorded. Cash balances were
understated by about $1.7 million as of June
30, 2021. Federal payroll taxes were not filed timely, resulting in
interest and penalties totaling $6,520. The 2012 through 2020 annual update
documents (AUDs) were not filed with the Office of the State Comptroller, as
required, and bank reconciliations were not performed. Monthly financial
reports were not prepared for and submitted to the town board.
Town of Owego – Water
Fund Operations (Tioga County) Town officials did not provide adequate
oversight of water fund operations. Specifically: 104 of 1,380 water bills
tested were not calculated correctly resulting in approximately $70,000 of lost
revenue for the town. All 51 water bill adjustments reviewed, totaling
$233,400, were not approved by the board. Of those, 28 adjustments totaling
approximately $70,100 were also not appropriate. The consolidated water
district had operating surpluses of over $465,000 in 2019 and $395,000 in 2020.
28 percent of the water produced, or 138.6 million gallons, is considered
unauthorized non-revenue (lost) water, 12 percentage points above the national
average.
Sullivan County Funding
Corporation – Millennium Revolving Loan Program (2021M-196) Corporation
officials did not award all funds from the program in accordance with
established guidelines and did not ensure businesses complied with their agreements.
The Loan Review Committee approved two loans that exceeded program loan
allowances. One loan exceeded the allowance by $37,500, or 100%, and the second
by $15,710, or 76%. Officials did not verify businesses’ self-reported job
creation and retention numbers and had no procedures for recapture if job
creation and retention expectations were not met. Six businesses self-reported
they did not meet job creation and retention goals by a total of 24 jobs and
seven businesses self-reported they met or exceeded job creation and retention
goals by a total of 40 jobs.
Town of Ulysses –
Information Technology (Tompkins County) Town officials did not ensure IT
systems were adequately secured and protected against unauthorized use, access
and loss. The board did not adopt adequate written IT policies or a written IT
contingency plan. Officials did not adequately manage local user accounts. The
board did not enter into a written service level agreement with the town’s IT
service provider. Sensitive IT control weaknesses were communicated
confidentially to officials.
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