Audit Objective 

Determine whether Town of Pendleton (Town) capital projects (projects) were properly planned, accounted for and monitored.

Key Findings 

The Town Board (Board) and Town Supervisor (Supervisor) did not ensure projects were properly planned or accounted for and did not monitor projects. As a result, the Supervisor and Board were unaware of total project costs, and the Board could not effectively monitor the status of the projects or communicate the projects’ status to taxpayers. Specifically, the Supervisor and Board did not: 

• Establish project scope, timelines, cost or funding sources for any of the Town’s five projects.
• Prepare detailed project budgets for each project.
• Transparently communicate or present project information to taxpayers.

The Supervisor did not: 

• Account for the projects in separate capital projects funds.

Recommendations 

The audit report includes 11 recommendations to improve capital project planning, accounting and monitoring.

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