Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to review various selected financial operations and the Justice Court for the period January 1, 2013 through August 31, 2014.

Background

The Town of Petersburgh is located in Rensselaer County and has a population of approximately 1,600. The Town is governed by an elected five-member Town Board. Budgeted appropriations for 2015 totaled $891,816 for the general, highway and water funds.

Key Findings

• Aggregated purchases for heating oil and diesel fuel were not competitively bid as required by General Municipal Law.
• The Board did not review purchases made using Town credit cards.
• The Town Clerk did not properly account for the sale and inventory of transfer station tickets and permits.
• Town Justices did not perform monthly accountabilities or bank reconciliations.

Key Recommendations

• Ensure that officials comply with General Municipal Law’s competitive bidding requirements.
• Perform a thorough review of credit card purchases each month.
• Periodically reconcile the number of transfer station tickets purchased and permits provided from the Town of Berlin to the number of tickets and permits sold and on hand.
• Reconcile all of the Justice Court’s bank accounts on a monthly basis and ensure that month-end accountabilities are being performed on the Justices’ records.