Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to review the Town's practice for allocating sales tax revenue for the period January 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014.

Background

The Town of Easton is located in Washington County and within its border includes a portion of the Village of Greenwich. The Town, which is governed by an elected five-member Town Board, has a population of approximately 2,300. Budgeted appropriations for 2014 were approximately $1.2 million.

Key Findings

• Town officials did not allocate sales tax revenue to the town-outside-village funds to reduce the real property tax levies in these funds before allocating any remaining sales tax revenue to the town-wide funds, resulting in taxpayer inequities of approximately $188,000 from 2011 through 2014.

Key Recommendations

• Allocate sales tax revenue to the town-outside-village funds in compliance with statute and seek legal counsel to determine what remedies are available to address the inequities identified in our audit.