Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to assess the Town’s internal controls over the Town’s financial and Court operations for the period January 1, 2012 through June 5, 2014.

Background

The Town of Ogden is located in Monroe County and has approximately 20,000 residents. It is governed by an elected Town Board, which consists of the Town Supervisor and four Board members. The Town’s 2014 budgeted appropriations for the Town’s major operating funds totaled approximately $9.7 million. The Town operates a Justice Court with two independently elected Justices and two Court clerks. The Court collected fines totaling $294,958 during the 2013 fiscal year.

Key Findings

• The Board and Town officials have not developed adequate policies, procedures or financial plans to govern budgeting practices and the amount of unexpended surplus funds to maintain.
• The Supervisor did not provide the Board with required monthly financial reports.
• The Justices failed to implement corrective action to address the issues identified by the annual external audit, allowing errors to occur and remain uncorrected and resulting in the poor accountability practices continuing unabated.

Key Recommendations

• Develop long-term financial plans, policies and procedures to govern developing and monitoring the budget estimates and the amount of unexpended surplus funds to maintain.
• Ensure that the Supervisor provides all Board members with accurate and complete monthly financial reports, and use the reports to monitor the Town’s financial position and budget status throughout the fiscal year.
• Follow up on corrective action of Court findings included in its annual external audit report. If the Justices do not correct identified deficiencies, the Board can inform the Supervising Judge of the Judicial District, the Office of Court Administration, or the Commission on Judicial Conduct.