City of Gloversville – City Clerk (2019M-96) | Office of the New York State Comptroller

Issued Date

December 11, 2020

Audit Objective

Determine whether the City of Gloversville (City) Clerk properly accounted for fees.

Key Findings

The current Clerk began properly accounting for fees as of October 1, 2017. The former Clerk did not properly account for fees. The former Clerk:

Waived fees for 249 certified copies of birth certificates totaling $2,490 without a valid reason.
Did not deposit all fees intact and substituted checks and money orders for cash collections.

Key Recommendations

Collect proper fee amounts for all transactions.
Deposit collections intact and record all transactions in the accounting system.

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

Background

The City is located in Fulton County. The elected seven-member Common Council (Council) is responsible for managing operations. The Council appointed a Clerk and deputy clerk. The Clerk serves as the deputy registrar of vital records and the deputy clerk serves as the registrar of vital records. Both the Clerk and the deputy clerk are responsible for collecting fees for a variety of purposes. All fees received are property of the City and State agencies and must be remitted on a monthly basis to the appropriate entities.

The former Clerk resigned in November 2016 and the former deputy clerk was not reappointed in 2017. The Council appointed the current Clerk and deputy clerk in January 2017.

Quick Facts
Former Clerk’s Tenure	6.5 Years
2016 Clerk Collections	$93,027
2017 Clerk Collections	$111,728
2018 Clerk Collections	$110,072

Audit Period

January 1, 2016 – November 30, 2018. We extended the scope period back to December 10, 2015 to review 2016 landfill permit sales.