Audit Objective 

Determine whether the Town of Java (Town) Tax Collector remitted all collections as required by New York State Town Law (Town Law).

Key Findings 

The Tax Collector did not remit collections to the Town Supervisor (Supervisor) and Wyoming County (County) Treasurer within the timeframes established by Town Law Section 35. As a result, funds were not provided to finance Town and County operations in a timely manner.

• The Tax Collector did not remit taxes totaling approximately $922,000 to the Supervisor at least weekly and as required by Town Law.
• The Tax Collector improperly followed the Supervisor’s instructions to not remit taxes to the County each month. The Tax Collector is a separately elected official of the Town and is not governed by the Supervisor. By following the Supervisor’s instructions, the Tax Collector did not comply with Town Law, which required monthly payments to the County.
• Town officials hired an independent auditor to audit the former Tax Collector’s 2022 records. The auditor’s report indicated that tax collection payments to the Supervisor and Treasurer did not comply with Town Law. Although the Board’s meeting minutes indicate that the Board reviewed the audit report, the Board did not take corrective action. Board members did not respond when asked to explain why they did not take corrective action.

Recommendations 

The audit report includes two recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Town’s tax collection practices.

The Supervisor and Tax Collector submitted separate responses to our audit. Both generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to initiate corrective action. Appendix B includes our comment on an issue raised in the Supervisor’s response.