New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following audits and reports were issued during the week ending November 5, 2016

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced the following audits and reports were issued during the week ending November 5, 2016 

Source: Office of the State Comptroller

Links to material posted on the Internet highlighted in COLOR.

School District and BOCES Audits

Bellmore Union Free School District – Financial Condition

The audit is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2016/bellmore.htm?utm_source=weekly+news&utm_medium=email&utm_term=school+audit&utm_content=20161106&utm_campaign=fiscal+oversight

Jefferson-Lewis-Hamilton-Herkimer-Oneida Board of Cooperative Educational Services – Separation Payments

The audit is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2016/jefflewhamherkoneidaboces.htm?utm_source=weekly+news&utm_medium=email&utm_term=school+audit&utm_content=20161106&utm_campaign=fiscal+oversight

Olean City School District – Financial Management

The audit is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2016/olean.htm?utm_source=weekly+news&utm_medium=email&utm_term=school+audit&utm_content=20161106&utm_campaign=fiscal+oversight                      

Port Washington Union Free School District – Claims Processing and Inventories

The audit is posted on the Internet at:\http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2016/portwashington.htm?utm_source=weekly+news&utm_medium=email&utm_term=school+audit&utm_content=20161106&utm_campaign=fiscal+oversight

Rensselaer City School District – Financial Condition

The audit is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2016/rensselaer.htm?utm_source=weekly+news&utm_medium=email&utm_term=school+audit&utm_content=20161106&utm_campaign=fiscal+oversight 

Spencerport Central School District – Financial Condition

The audit is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/audits/schools/2016/spencerport.htm?utm_source=weekly+news&utm_medium=email&utm_term=school+audit&utm_content=20161106&utm_campaign=fiscal+oversight

Other reports issued

Contractor improperly retained $1,498,719 due NYSHIP for prescription drug rebate

A company that was supposed to collect rebates from drug manufacturers on behalf of the New York State Health Insurance Plan failed to turn over nearly $1.5 million in rebates to the state over a four-year period, according to an auditreleased by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. 

Volunteer Fire Department’s former treasurer pleads guilty to charges related to his embezzlement from the Patterson, New York Fire Department  

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Shantelle P. Kitchen, the Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Thomas P. DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller, and George Beach, Superintendent, New York State Police, announced that Albert Melin, the former treasurer of the Patterson Fire Department in Patterson, New York (PFD), pled guilty to wire fraud and false subscription to tax returns before Magistrate Judge Judith C. McCarthy in connection with his embezzlement of more than $1.1 million from the PFD.

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/nov16/110216b.htm?utm_source=weekly+news&utm_medium=email&utm_term=corruption&utm_content=20161106&utm_campaign=fiscal+oversight 

Metropolitan Transit Authority failed collect penalty fees from a contractor who

mishandled customer service calls

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released an auditrevealing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority did not collect almost $400,000 in penalty fees from Global Contact Services, a contractor who mishandled customer service calls and provided inaccurate travel planning information to customers who utilize the MTA’s Access-A-Ride program.

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The Attorney General and the State Comptroller encourage anyone with information on alleged public corruption activities to contact the Attorney General’s Office at 1-800-996-4630 or the Comptroller’s office by dialing the toll-free fraud hotline at 1-888-672-4555; to file a complaint online at investigations@osc.state.ny.us; or to mail a complaint to: Office of the State Comptroller Investigations Unit, 110 State Street, 14th floor, Albany, NY 12236.

Review of a district attorney’s handling of a criminal proceeding brought before a grand jury

Review of a district attorney’s handling of a criminal proceeding brought before a grand jury

Staten Is. Branch of the N.A. for the Advancement of Colored People v State of N.Y. Grievance Comm. for the Second, Eleventh and Thirteenth Jud. Dists., 2016 NY Slip Op 07124, Appellate Division, First Department

The Staten Island Branch of the N.A.A.C.P. [Staten Island] sought a court review and a disciplinary remedy, alleging that that former Richmond County District Attorney Daniel Donovan had a conflict of interest per se in his handling of a grand jury proceeding in an effort to obtain an indictment against a local police officer.

Supreme Court denied Staten Island’s Article 78 petition seeking an order annulling the Grievance Committee for the Second, Eleventh and Thirteenth Judicial Districts’ [Committee] determination not to reopen an investigation into Staten Island’s disciplinary complaint and dismissing the proceeding.  Staten Island’s appeal of the Supreme Court’s ruling was unanimously denied by the Appellate Division.

The Appellate Division said the Supreme Court’s determination that it lacked jurisdiction over this Article 78 proceeding to challenge an Attorney Grievance Committee decision not to investigate the handling of the grand jury proceeding involving former Richmond County District Attorney Daniel Donovan “is supported by well-settled authority.” The court explained that “the only avenue for review has already been exhausted through the reconsideration process and an application to the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department.”*

The Appellate Division also observed two additional elements that barred Staten Islands Article 78 action: [1] a court review and a disciplinary remedy against a duly elected prosecutor who acted within the discretion of his office “fails under the doctrine of separation of powers” and [2] Staten Island’s contention that “a publicly-elected district attorney is possessed of a conflict of interest per se whenever seeking an indictment against a local police officer was not sufficiently particularized.”

* The Appellate Division noted that an Executive Order of the Governor, Cuomo EO 147, authorizes transferring prosecutorial authority to the Attorney General in future cases involving fatal actions by police officers, which order provides an additional remedy to hold prosecutors accountable for their discretionary conduct as does the electoral process.

The decision is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2016/2016_07124.htm

Probationary employee has the burden of showing his or her termination was unlawful

Probationary employee has the burden of showing his or her termination was unlawful

Mendez v New York City Dept. of Educ., 2016 NY Slip Op 06947, Court of Appeals

Finding that Diane Mendezdid not establish that the termination of her probationary employment "was for a constitutionally impermissible purpose, violative of a statute, or done in bad faith," the Court of Appeals sustained the New York City Board of Education’s decision to dismiss Mendez from her employment.

The Court of Appeal's decision is posted on the Internet at:

http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2016/2016_06947.htm

The Trial Court's decision is posted on the Internet at: 
http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/pdfs/2013/2013_34073.pdf

Viability of claims submitted after the legislative deadline for filing the claim

Viability of claims submitted after the legislative deadline for filing the claim

County of Chemung v. Shah, Court of Appeals, 2016 Slip Opinion 07043

In response to claims filed by municipalities that the State consider and pay claims submitted after the effective date of the legislative deadline for pre-2006 Medicaid reimbursement claims mandated by §61 of the 2012 amendment to the Medicaid Cap Statute, the Court of Appeals held that reimbursement claims filed after April 1, 2012.

Further, said the court, the State was not required to initiate an administrative review of its records to identify and pay for any pre-2006 claims submitted by a municipality.

The decision is posted on the Internet at: http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2016/2016_07043.htm