New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced the following local government and school audits were issued.

Patchogue-Medford Union Free School District – Health Insurance Buyouts (Suffolk County)

Although the district’s health insurance buyout program is generally cost-effective, the district could achieve greater savings by modifying the terms of the program. For example: the district should review the eligibility requirements of the program for married couples and family members employed by the district. For the 2021 calendar year, auditors found the district could have saved $73,966 if it had more cost-effective buyout requirements.

Village of Solvay – Financial Management (Onondaga County)

The board and officials did not develop a budget for the electric fund and adequately manage its financial condition. From 2016-17 through 2020-21, the electric fund’s total net assets declined by approximately $9 million, and cash declined from $4.1 million to $1 million. Officials also did not maintain up-to-date records or provide adequate financial reports to the board; take action to ensure electric fund revenues kept pace with expenses; ensure that annual payments from the electric fund to the general fund totaling approximately $1 million were justified and supported; monitor the general fund budget during 2021-22; or develop long-term written financial or capital plans. Auditors found 31 general fund appropriation accounts were over expended by nearly $1.2 million.

West Hempstead Union Free School District – Nonstudent Network User Account Controls (Nassau County)

District officials did not establish adequate controls over nonstudent network user accounts to help prevent unauthorized use, access and loss. In addition to sensitive information technology control weaknesses that were communicated confidentially to officials, auditors found the board and district officials did not: develop and adopt policies and procedures addressing key network user access controls, such as user account management, password security and user account controls, or disable 60 of the district’s enabled nonstudent network accounts that were not needed. Twenty-two of these accounts have not been used in more than five years.

Town of German – Supervisor’s Records and Reports (Chenango County)

The former supervisor did not maintain the town’s accounting records and reports in a complete, accurate and up-to-date manner. As a result, the board’s ability to monitor financial operations was compromised, resulting in diminished transparency of the town’s financial operations. The former supervisor: incorrectly recorded almost $1 million of highway fund revenues and $57,000 of fire protection fund revenues in the general fund for the 2020 through 2022 fiscal years; did not provide budget status reports, or a monthly accounting of all money received and disbursed, to the board; consistently filed the annual financial report and the tax cap form late with the Comptroller’s Office; and did not annually provide accounting records to the board for audit.

Tioga County – Court and Trust

Auditors reviewed the treasurer’s processes, procedures and records for the receipt and management of court and trust funds. They found the treasurer established adequate procedures, maintained appropriate records and properly reported court and trust funds as prescribed by statute. Auditors also found that records maintained by the County Clerk and Surrogate’s Court were up to date and complete with no material discrepancies.

East Ramapo Central School District – Nonpublic School Transportation (Rockland County)

An audit issued in November 2019 identified certain conditions and opportunities for district management to review and consider. A follow-up review found that although the district’s Corrective Action Plan that was filed with the Comptroller’s Office indicated the district took corrective action on or before June 30, 2019, for seven of the eight audit recommendations, officials did not actually take corrective actions. Of the eight audit recommendations, six recommendations were not implemented and the status of two recommendations could not be determined.

East Ramapo Central School District – Textbooks Loaned to Nonpublic School Students (Rockland County)

An audit issued in August 2020 identified certain conditions and opportunities for district management to review and consider. A follow-up review found that although the district’s Corrective Action Plan that was filed with the Comptroller’s Office indicated the district took corrective action on or before July 2020, of the six audit recommendations, one recommendation was implemented, two recommendations were partially implemented, and three recommendations were not implemented.