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Audit Objective

Determine whether the Town of Otselic (Town) Town Supervisor (Supervisor) maintained complete, accurate and timely financial records and reports.

Determine whether the Town Board (Board) ensured that Town officials did not have prohibited interests in Town contracts.

Key Findings

The Supervisor did not maintain complete, accurate and timely financial records and reports, and the Board did not ensure there were no prohibited conflicts of interest. We also found:

• The Supervisor did not provide the Board with accurate financial reports and did not record deposits totaling $127,000, cash withdrawals totaling $199,000 and fund transfers totaling $874 in the accounting records. She recorded one deposit for $25,000 twice.
• The required 2016 through 2019 annual financial reports were not filed with the Office of State Comptroller, as required. As of May 5, 2021, the reports were late and remained unfiled.
• A Board member had a prohibited interest in the contracts between the Town and his auto parts businesses.
• The Board did not comply with General Municipal Law by adopting a code of ethics and did not audit the Supervisor’s records, as required.

Key Recommendations

• Maintain complete, accurate and timely financial records and reports.
• File AUDs in a timely manner.
• Adopt a code of ethics and ensure that officials and employees are familiar with and follow requirements as they relate to conflicts of interest.

Town officials generally agreed with our findings and recommendations and indicated they will take corrective action. Appendix B includes our comment on an issue raised in the Town’s response letter.