Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to examine the Board’s oversight of Village activities for the period July 1, 2015 through October 24, 2016.

Background

The Village of Painted Post is located in the Town of Erwin in Steuben County and has a population of approximately 1,800. The Village is governed by an elected five-member Board of Trustees. Budgeted appropriations for the 2016-17 fiscal year for the general, water and sewer funds totaled approximately $2.5 million.

Key Findings

• The Board did not adopt policies and procedures for cash receipts and disbursements, processing of user charges, payroll and information technology (IT).
• Various departments had different ways of recording employees’ time worked or leave usage.
• Trustees did not review the monthly Treasurer’s report for the three operating funds.
• The Board did not perform or provide for annual audits of the Clerk-Treasurer’s records and reports as required by law.

Key Recommendations

• Adopt policies and procedures over payroll processing, cash receipts and disbursements, water and sewer usage charges and IT, and periodically review and update them as needed.
• Develop a standardized timekeeping system and leave request process across all departments and centralize the maintenance of leave and compensatory time records.
• Review the Treasurer’s monthly reports and use them to monitor actual results against the adopted budget.
• Perform an annual audit of the Treasurer’s annual financial report and supporting records or engage the services of a public accountant to conduct the audit.