Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to assess Town officials’ management of the Town’s financial condition for the period January 1, 2015 through July 21, 2016.

Background

The Town of Bainbridge is located in Chenango County. The Town, which has approximately 3,300 residents, is governed by an elected five-member Town Board. Budgeted appropriations for the 2016 fiscal year totaled approximately $1.1 million.

Key Findings

• From 2013 through 2015, officials used one-time financing sources to fund recurring expenditures, adopting budgets that were not structurally balanced by appropriating fund balance totaling $567,500.
• The Board has not established goals for the level of unrestricted fund balance to be maintained, which contributed to the appropriation of imprudent amounts of fund balance.

Key Recommendations

• Develop and adopt structurally balanced budgets with tax levies that equal the difference between recurring revenues and recurring expenditures.
• Establish fund balance goals, including the level of unrestricted fund balance that should be maintained.