Audit Objective

Determine whether the Town of Orangeville (Town) Town Clerk/Tax Collector (Clerk) properly recorded, deposited, remitted and reported collections.

Key Findings

The Clerk did not properly record, deposit, remit or report collections. The Clerk did not:

• Maintain complete and accurate accounting records, provide accurate monthly reports to the Supervisor or provide an annual accounting to the Board as required.
• Accurately record, remit and report detailed Clerk fees for 21 of the 24 months reviewed.
• Deposit Clerk fees and real property tax collections within required timeframes or in a timely manner.
• Remit real property tax collections totaling $2 million to the Town Supervisor (Supervisor) or the County Treasurer (Treasurer) within the required timeframes.
• Accurately record and report real property tax collections.

In addition, the Clerk was unable to provide the 2019 accounting records for real property taxes. Therefore, we were unable to determine whether transactions were recorded accurately and timely in 2019.

Key Recommendations

• Maintain detailed and accurate accounting records.
• Deposit all collections and remit all real property tax collections, including interest and penalties, to the Supervisor and Treasurer within the required timeframes.
• Complete an annual audit of the Clerk’s accounts and records.

Town officials agreed with our recommendations and have indicated they plan to initiate corrective action.