[read complete report - pdf]

Audit Objective

Determine whether the Justices provided adequate oversight to ensure receipts were collected, deposited, recorded and remitted in an accurate and timely manner.

Key Findings

The Justices did not provide adequate oversight of Court operations. As a result, errors and irregularities were found in the Court’s records:

• The Senior Court Clerk’s duties were not properly segregated. Bank records provided by the Senior Court Clerk to the Comptroller’s office were altered.
• There was a cash shortage of $2,096. The Senior Court Clerk deposited 12 personal checks totaling $2,096 in place of missing cash.
• The Senior Court Clerk deposited receipts totaling $6,525 into a neighboring village’s bank account and transferred it back two months later without notifying the Justices.
• An August 2016 deposit totaling $1,055 was missing and not credited to the Justice’s account until 10 months later.
• Code enforcement did not account for all tickets issued or voided.

These findings were referred to outside law enforcement for review.

Key Recommendations

• The Justices should provide oversight of Court operations to ensure collections are properly deposited, recorded and remitted.
• The Justices should investigate the irregularities identified in this report.
• The Justices should ensure bank reconciliations and accountabilities are performed and identified differences are corrected.
• The Board should ensure that code enforcement accounts for all tickets, and that it reconciles its records with the Court’s.

Village officials agreed with our findings and indicated they plan to initiate corrective action.