Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to determine whether the Board properly monitored the Town’s disbursements for the period January 1, 2011, to December 19, 2012.

Background

The Town of Pittsfield is located in Otsego County and has a population of approximately 1,370 residents. The Town is governed by an elected five-member Town Board, which includes the Town Supervisor. The general and highway funds’ adopted budgets for the 2013 fiscal year are $173,604 and $383,966, respectively.

Key Findings

• We performed certain tests to ensure that 35 non-payroll disbursements totaling $66,400 were properly approved and legitimate Town expenditures and found 17 discrepancies totaling $8,450. Specifically, 10 checks totaling approximately $6,900 were never approved by the Board. We also tested 21 payroll disbursements totaling a gross amount of $13,600 to ensure that they were made for proper purposes and identified four employees − who received gross pay totaling $886 − that did not have an approved timesheet on file to verify that they were paid for hours actually worked. Additionally, we found no evidence that the Board approved the pay rates of the three transfer station employees, who were paid a gross amount of $17,370 during our audit period. Moreover, we found that the Highway Superintendent was underpaid by a total of more than $2,300 for his health insurance buy-out in the 2011 and 2012 fiscal years.
• These discrepancies occurred because the Board did not provide adequate oversight of disbursements and did not provide for a detailed audit of the Supervisor’s records for the 2011 fiscal year.

Key Recommendations

• Periodically compare the approved warrants with the canceled check images, as shown on the bank statements, and review the bank reconciliations.
• Thoroughly document the annual audit process in the Board minutes and continue the use of the audit checklist.