Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to determine if Court officials properly collected, reported and remitted moneys on behalf of the Court for the period January 1, 2012 through November 30, 2013.

Background

The Village covers one square mile and has approximately 1,300 residents. The Board of Trustees, comprising a Mayor and four Trustees, is responsible for overseeing the Court’s general management and financial operations. The Court’s 2012 budgeted appropriations were $9,500. During our audit period, the Village had one Justice, Peter Brykailo, Jr., and two Court clerks. Per the Court’s information technology system, the Court collected 297 payments totaling approximately $52,000 in fines, surcharges and fees during the audit period.

Key Findings

Based on our testing, we found the Village Court has properly collected and remitted moneys received. However,

• The Court is not reporting potential traffic violation offenders to the State’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in a timely manner.
• We found a lack of segregation of duties, and weak information technology controls.

Key Recommendations

• Periodically review and reconcile the DMV pending-ticket log with caseload activity to ensure that tickets are properly reported, as paid or enforced, in a timely manner.
• Ensure that the respective duties of the Justice and the Court clerk are adequately segregated. Assess the risk areas in the Court software, such as an inadequate audit trail and insufficient automated controls.