Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to examine the Town’s financial condition for the period January 1, 2012, to August 13, 2013.

Background

The Town of Mount Pleasant is located in Westchester County and serves approximately 43,700 residents. The Town is governed by the Town Board, which comprises four elected members and an elected Town Supervisor. The Town’s budgeted appropriations for all funds in 2012 were approximately $39.9 million and $40.9 million in 2013.

Key Findings

• The Town’s general town wide fund balance has decreased by approximately $2.4 million over the past five years, due primarily to the Board relying on fund balance as a financing source for operations. The Board did not adopt a policy, or ensure that procedures were in place, to govern the level of fund balance to be maintained.
• The Board’s estimates of unexpended surplus fund balance to be appropriated in the budgets exceeded the amounts actually available; as a result, the Board did not adopt structurally balanced budgets.

Key Recommendations

• Establish written policies and procedures governing the budgeting process, which include defining reasonable amounts of unexpended surplus funds that the Town should maintain.
• Appropriate only available fund balance to finance operations in succeeding years’ budgets.