Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit to evaluate the Court’s financial operations for the period January 1, 2013 through April 30, 2014.

Background

The Town of Edinburg is located in Saratoga County and has a population of approximately 1,200. The Town is governed by an elected five-member Town Board, which has oversight responsibilities with respect to the Town’s Justice Court. The Town has an elected Justice, who reported 243 cases during the audit period to the Office of the State Comptroller’s Justice Court Fund (JCF).

Key Findings

• Bank reconciliations, month-end accountabilities and reports submitted to the JCF were not accurate.
• The Justice did not maintain adequate case files.
• The reconciled bail bank account balance did not agree with the Justice’s accounting records.
• The Justice did not take appropriate action to ensure that traffic ticket fines and fees were collected in a timely manner.

Key Recommendations

• Perform monthly accountabilities and bank reconciliations for the fines and fees bank account and the bail bank account.
• Maintain adequate documentation of case activity in the case files and court records.
• Reconcile the bail balance to identify the cause of the discrepancy between the Justice’s records and the bank account balance.
• Periodically review reports of undisposed cases to ensure that appropriate action is taken to enforce traffic tickets.