New York State Comptroller DiNapoli releases school and municipal audits

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following audits and reports were issued were issued on April 20, 2023.

Links to material posted on the Internet highlighted in COLOR.

 

Chappaqua Central School District – Fixed Assets (Westchester County) District officials did not properly monitor and account for the district’s fixed assets. Officials maintained incomplete and inaccurate records and did not perform a physical inventory count since 2018. Of the 164 assets reviewed, 148, worth $220,708, were not recorded on the district’s original asset list and 18 assets worth $25,022 did not have asset tags, as required. Twenty-five disposed assets were not removed from the district’s original asset list. Also, officials could not determine whether four assets were disposed of (sold) or retired (obsolete). The district’s fixed asset policy did not require, and officials did not perform, a periodic inventory count or an unannounced asset count for district departments.

 

Williamsville Central School District – Financial Management (Erie County) The board and district officials did not properly manage the district’s fund balance and reserves. As a result, the district levied more taxes than needed to fund operations. The board and district officials consistently overestimated general fund appropriations from 2018-19 through 2021-22 by a total of $47 million and appropriated $22 million of fund balance that was not needed or used. Officials also adopted annual budgets during the same period that gave the impression that the district would have operating deficits totaling $38 million when it actually had operating surpluses totaling $40 million, for a difference totaling $78 million.

 

Stamford Central School District – Fund Balance Management (Delaware County) The board and district officials did not effectively manage the district’s fund balance. As a result, they were not transparent with taxpayers, and the district levied more taxes than needed to fund operations.  The board overestimated appropriations from the 2019-20 through 2021-22 fiscal years by an average of $1.4 million (14%) and planned to use fund balance to cover operating deficits when the district realized operating surpluses. Surplus fund balance exceeded the 4% statutory limit in two of the last three fiscal years by approximately $700,000 (6.8 percentage points) and $1.9 million (18.7 percentage points). Four of the district’s 11 reserves were not reasonably funded, or used to pay related expenditures, during the last three fiscal years. For example, the retirement contributions for employees reserve balance of $602,749 was sufficient to cover expenditures for five years.

 

Bayport-Bluepoint Union Free School District – Nonstudent Network User Accounts (Suffolk County) District officials did not establish adequate network controls for nonstudent user accounts to help prevent unauthorized access. As a result, the district has an increased risk of unauthorized access to and use of the district network and potential loss of important data. In addition to sensitive information technology (IT) control weaknesses that were confidentially communicated to officials, auditors found the database coordinator did not disable 281 nonstudent network user accounts that are unneeded or unnecessary to prevent unauthorized access and use.

 

Village of Suffern – Budget Review (Rockland County) Based on the results of our review, auditors found that the significant revenue and expenditure projections in the 2023-24 proposed budget were reasonable. Estimates for metered water revenues and sewer rent revenues appear overestimated and should be reviewed by the board. The village’s tentative budget includes a tax levy of $12,090,011, which is within the limit established by law.

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Track state and local government spending at Open Book New York. Under State Comptroller DiNapoli’s open data initiative, search millions of state and local government financial records, track state contracts, and find commonly requested data.  

 

Qualified immunity claimed by governmental officials in class action brought in federal court

Qualified immunity shields government officials from liability for money damages for violation of a right under federal law if "their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known."

This ruling by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, addresses claims by government officials of their "entitlement to qualified immunity" in the underlying litigation. 

Following a discussion the Doctrine of Qualified Immunity and then reviewing the plaintiff's claims of violations of his rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution of the United State, the Circuit Court of Appeals:

1. Affirmed the district court's denial of the government officials' motion for judgment on the plaintiff's pleadings concerning his Fourteenth Amendment claim;

2. Reversed the district court's denial of the government officials' motion for judgment on the plaintiff's pleadings concerning his Eighth Amendment claim; and 

3. Remanded the matter to the district court "for further proceedings."

Click HERE to access the text of Circuit Court's decision posted on the Internet.

 

New Jersey may unilaterally withdraw from the New York-New Jersey Waterfront Commission Compact

The Waterfront Commission Compact established a bi-state agency known as the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor New York and New Jersey in 1953, consistent with the Compact Clause of the Constitution, pursuant to which the States delegated their sovereign authority to conduct regulatory and law-enforcement activities at the Port. 

The Compact did not address each State’s power to withdraw from the Compact. 

In 2018, New Jersey sought to unilaterally withdraw from the Compact, over New York’s opposition. New York filed a bill of complaint in the Supreme Court of the United States. 

The parties then filed cross-motions for judgment on the pleadings, with the United States supporting New Jersey as amicus curiae.

Held: The Supreme Court ruled New Jersey may unilaterally withdraw from the Waterfront Commission Compact notwithstanding New York’s opposition.

Click HERE to access the Supreme Court's decision and the Syllabus of the ruling. 

N.B. The Syllabus is not part of the opinion of the Court. It is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader.

 

Start Your Career in Public Service in New York State as a Correction Officer

The New York State Department of Civil Service announced the State and 40 county civil service agencies are currently offering online civil service examinations for appointment to positions of Correction Officer.

Applicants May Apply to Take the Local Examinations for Appointment to Local Correction Officer Positions Through May 12, 2023; The Online Examination Must be Completed by June 30, 2023.

New York State Currently Offers the Online Examination for Appointment to State Correction Officer Positions with Applications Being Accepted Until Further Notice.

For more information and to access the online examination, please click here.

 

Excessive lateness deemed a violation of the employer's time and leave policies

New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings Administrative Law Judge Julia H. Lee recommended a 5-day suspension for a procurement specialist charged with excessive lateness.

The employee was found guilty of being late to work on 40 separate occasions over a period of eight months, totaling 32 hours and 40 minutes.

ALJ Lee rejected the employee’s argument that he was not late on these occasions because he received supervisory approval to charge his lateness to compensatory time. Judge Lee opined that that a long-time employee is expected to abide by the agency’s time and leave policies.

The ALJ, however, found that the employee's misconduct was mitigated by the employee’s 40-year employment with no prior disciplinary history since 1989, recommended a 5-day suspension without pay instead of the 10-day suspension without pay proposed by the employer.

The text of the ALJ's decision is posted on the Internet at: https://archive.citylaw.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/oath/22_cases/22-217.pdf

 

A Reasonable Disciplinary Penalty Under the Circumstances- The text of this ebook focuses on determining an appropriate disciplinary penalty to be imposed on an employee in the public service in instances where the employee has been found guilty of misconduct or incompetence. For more information click HERE.