Audit Objective
Determine whether any Town of Perth (Town) Board (Board) members had prohibited interest in non-payroll disbursements.
Key Findings
A Board member was the sole proprietor of an automotive company that did business with the Town. Therefore, the Board member had a prohibited conflict of interest which means they did not follow New York State General Municipal Law (GML) Article 18 and the Town’s Code of Ethics. The prohibited interest occurred when the Board member’s business repaired a Town dump-truck and was paid $13,183 for the repair. The Board member with the prohibited conflict of interest, the Town Supervisor (Supervisor), and another Board member approved the $13,183 payment.
According to the Board member with the conflict of interest, he approved the claim because two Board members refused to approve the claim due to their concerns with his prohibited conflict of interest. The Supervisor stated he approved the claim because the repair work was completed so the Town had an obligation to pay. Although the Supervisor, who is a member of the Town’s Board of Ethics, had concerns with the payment, he was unable to provide a reasonable explanation for why he did not bring this matter to the Town’s Board of Ethics. The remaining Board member approved the claim because the Supervisor had approved it.
Key Recommendations
The audit report has five recommendations that will help prevent Town officials from having prohibited interests in non-payroll disbursements.
Town officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.