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Audit Objective

Determine whether the Board provided adequate fiscal oversight.

Key Findings

• The Board did not adequately segregate the Clerk-Treasurer’s duties or implement compensating controls. It also did not conduct an audit of the Clerk-Treasurer’s records and annual financial report.
• Village officials expended $76,200 in real property taxes over the last 12 years for two unused properties that did not benefit taxpayers.
• A Trustee, as co-owner of a local hardware store, had a prohibited conflict of interest.¹ She received a direct or indirect monetary benefit as a result of 59 contracts totaling $2,398 between the store and the Village during our audit period.

Key Recommendations

• Properly segregate the Clerk-Treasurer’s duties or implement compensating controls and annually audit the annual financial report and supporting records.
• Explore selling the unused properties or consider placing these properties in use to benefit taxpayers.
• Adopt procedures to help detect and prevent prohibited interests in contracts.

District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.

¹ Refer to New York State General Municipal Law, Article 18