Audit Objective 

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

Key Findings 

The Clerk did not always record fees accurately or deposit them in a timely manner, but fees were properly deposited intact and generally remitted in a timely manner and reported accurately to the Town Supervisor (Supervisor).The Clerk accurately recorded tax collections but did not always deposit collections in a timely manner. Specifically, the Clerk did not: 

• Deposit tax collections totaling approximately $500,000 within 24 hours of the date collected, as required.
• Deposit fees totaling approximately $3,000 within three business days of being collected for total daily aggregate collections exceeding $250, as required.
• Remit real property taxes to the Supervisor on a weekly basis or provide a monthly report of amounts collected, as required.

In addition, the Clerk collected proceeds from the sale of culvert pipes to residents, but the Highway Superintendent did not maintain suitable records to allow us or the Town Board (Board) to determine whether all collections for culvert pipe sales were properly recorded, reported and remitted to the Supervisor for deposit.

Recommendations 

The audit report includes eight recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Clerk’s collection practices.

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