Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to examine internal controls over the financial operations of the Court for the period January 1, 2005, to June 22, 2012.

Background

The Town of Mount Morris is located in Livingston County and has a population of 4,400 residents. The Town is governed by an elected Town Board consisting of the Town Supervisor and four Board members. The two current Justices and Court clerk collected approximately $94,590 in fines and surcharges for the period January 1, 2010, to June 22, 2012.

Key Findings

• The current Justices have developed adequate internal controls over the Court’s financial operations, with the exception of performing accountabilities. Both the Justices and the Board provided adequate oversight and balanced their checkbooks to ensure that cash was properly safeguarded. However, the Justices did not perform accountabilities reconciling Court assets to known liabilities.
• One Justice failed to close his bank account as required when he resigned.

Key Recommendations

• Perform accountabilities (by preparing lists of Court liabilities and comparing them with reconciled bank balances) on a monthly basis. Promptly investigate and resolve any discrepancies and unexplained balances remitted to OSC JCF.
• Take action to close the former Justice’s bank account and any unidentified moneys in the Justice’s bank account should be reported and remitted to OSC.