We found no material discrepancies with the accounting for moneys received by the Court or the accuracy of bank deposits. However, we found that the Justices did not always perform monthly bank reconciliations and accountabilities properly. We also found that the Justices did not always report and remit moneys to the Justice Court Fund in a timely manner. In addition, the Justices did not follow up on pending cases or enforce unpaid fines and fees. Further, the Board did not conduct an annual audit of the Court's records as required. As a result of these weaknesses, the Board cannot be assured that all Court moneys were received and properly accounted for.

While the Board planned properly for the ongoing capital project, monitoring the project's progress has been hampered by the lack of available complete information and the necessity to compile information from a variety of sources. As of the end of fieldwork, no one was preparing detailed financial reports to monitor the project's progress against the plan developed by the Board and District administration. The Board and District officials did not develop reasonable estimates for expenditures and use of fund balance in the annual District budget. While revenue estimates were generally close to the actual revenues received, expenditures for fiscal years 2008-09 through 2012-13 were consistently and significantly overestimated; the District spent nearly $14.2 million less than budgeted (nearly 7 percent) during this time. In addition, although the District planned to use more than $16 million in unexpended surplus funds and reserves over the last five fiscal years, it actually used $1.68 million (11 percent). The District, however, is facing considerable uncertainties regarding the final funding for the elementary school replacement, along with the funding for remaining flood recovery projects. If the District does not receive all of its anticipated funding, it may need to use unexpended surplus fund balance or reserve funds to fund these projects.

The Treasurer does not routinely prepare cash-flow analyses. We found that the Treasurer was only maintaining a record of daily cash-flows of cash receipt and disbursement activity and was not analyzing future cash flow for the fiscal year. Without cash flow projections, the Council and City officials were unaware of the magnitude of City's shortfall. We prepared a cash-flow analysis for 2014. Our analysis found that the City will run out of cash in September 2014 and the cash deficiency will increase to nearly $4.6 million by the end of the fiscal year. In addition, The City's accounting records are in such poor condition that City officials do not know the severity of their fiscal problems. The books for the 2013 fiscal year were not closed as of June 2014. The general ledger cash balances were unreliable and were not reconciled to cash in the bank. Further, City officials anticipate that the audited financial statements will not be available until October 2014. These delays have put the Council and City officials at a disadvantage as they try to resolve the current cash-flow shortfall, begin the 2015 budgeting process and develop a long term plan that would address the City's fiscal problems.

The Board did not adopt realistic budgets; budgets varied significantly from the actual results each year. We reviewed the Town's four operating funds for the four-year period ending in 2013 to determine if the Board reasonably budgeted for revenues and expenditures. Annually, each of the funds' estimates generally varied from actual results; the general town-wide and highway part-town overestimated revenues and expenditures, the general part-town underestimated revenues and overestimated expenditures and the highway town-wide underestimated both revenues and expenditures. These unrealistic budgets resulted in annual operating surpluses that caused unexpended surplus funds to increase in the general town-wide and highway part-town funds year after year.

The purpose of our audit was to determine if school districts have adequately controlled access to Student Information Systems for the period July 1, 2011 through April 30, 2013.

The purpose of our audit was to determine if Court officials properly collected, reported and remitted moneys on behalf of the Court for the period January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2013.

District officials appropriated $7.7 million more in unexpended surplus funds than was needed to fund District operations. Additionally, officials consistently overestimated budget appropriations from 2008-09 through 2012-13 by a combined total of nearly $5.4 million and the general fund generated combined operating surpluses totaling approximately $4.9 million, because reasonable budgets were not always developed. Officials also increased the real property tax levy by more than $800,000 or 5 percent over this five-year period. At the same time District officials transferred unexpended surplus funds to reserve funds to avoid exceeding the statutory limit. As a result, reserves as of June 30, 2013 totaled $6.9 million. By routinely using these practices, District officials withheld significant funds from productive use, may have levied unnecessary taxes and compromised the transparency of District finances to taxpayers.

The Board did not develop and adopt realistic, structurally balanced general fund budgets because Village officials used fund balance as a recurring revenue source. This resulted in the repeated adoption of budgets using fund balance to finance operations. During fiscal years ended 2012 and 2013, the Village used over $120,800 of fund balance. This continued use diminished the Village's general fund balance to a precarious position by the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year. From fiscal years 2011-12 to 2013-14, the use of fund balance kept the real property tax levy artificially low while at the same time revenues remained at the same level and expenditures were increasing by 6 percent. The Village's 2014-15 budget includes an appropriation of $100,000 of fund balance, which is $150,000 less than the previous year. In order to fill the budget gap, Village officials overrode the property tax cap limit and increased taxes by over 8 percent.

The Board has generally adopted adequate policies and procedures, but there are still areas in need of improvement in its oversight of the Village's financial operations. The Board does not complete an adequate, documented annual audit of the Village Justice's and Clerk-Treasurer's records. Additionally, although the Board discusses plans for future equipment purchases regularly, a formal, written long-term financial plan has not been developed. We discussed other minor deficiencies with Village officials during our fieldwork.

We reviewed 151 health insurance buyout payments totaling $85,250 and 14 separation payments totaling $121,014 and found they were accurate, in compliance with the terms of employee contracts and approved by the Board. We commend the District for designing and implementing an appropriate system of controls over health insurance buyouts and separation payments.

The purpose of our audit was to determine if Court officials properly collected, reported and remitted moneys on behalf of the Court for the period January 1, 2012 through February 28, 2014.

The purpose of our audit was to determine if Court officials properly collected, reported and remitted moneys on behalf of the Court for the period January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2013.

The purpose of our audit was to determine if Court officials properly collected, reported and remitted moneys on behalf of the Court for the period January 1, 2012 through December 31, 2013.

The purpose of our audit was to determine if Court officials properly collected, reported and remitted moneys on behalf of the Court for the period January 1, 2012 through November 30, 2013.

We found that the Town's use of wind power revenues was reasonable. However, the Board did not adequately oversee the Supervisor or ensure that wind power revenues were properly reviewed for accuracy. Additionally, the Board did not annually audit the Supervisor's records as required. Consequently, Town officials were unaware the Town was not receiving the correct amount of host community licensing fees. As a result, from January 2009 through March 2014 the Town was underpaid wind power revenue totaling approximately $356,000. Further, the Board did not have a comprehensive multiyear financial and capital plan in place to adequately address wind power revenue use and the Town's long-term operational and capital needs. Finally, the Board did not properly establish its reserve funds. As a result, Town officials cannot ensure that the current and future use of wind power revenue will be in the best interest of Town residents.

We found that the Board did not monitor the Village's finances. The Board has not ensured that adequate policies and procedures required by law and sound business practice have been adopted, regularly reviewed and updated, monitored for compliance and distributed to officials/employees. It did not ensure that the Clerk-Treasurer maintained accurate accounting records. It also did not ensure that duties in the Clerk-Treasurer's office were properly segregated or provide mitigating controls, which created an environment that allowed for the possible misappropriation of Village funds. The lack of monitoring also led to the Village accumulating fund balance in excess of its current needs. We calculated an estimated fund balance level for the general, water and sewer funds at the 2012-13 year end, and estimate unexpended surplus funds to be excessive at $474,479 (82 percent) for the general fund and $131,095 (91 percent) for the sewer fund. The water fund, at $59,360 (23 percent), is more reasonable, but still high. Furthermore, there was no oversight of water/sewer account adjustments, which were made by the former Clerk-Treasurer without the Board's approval, and resulted in approximately $300,000 in reductions and $269,000 in added charges to customer accounts during our audit period. The Board also did not provide adequate oversight of payroll taxes, where Federal monthly and quarterly payroll-tax reports were filed late or incorrectly on numerous occasions and the Village incurred approximately $4,000 in penalties and interest during the audit period alone. Finally, the Board has not established policies and procedures related to acceptable use, computer security, breach notification or online banking, and the Board has not adopted a disaster recovery plan to address potential disasters.

At the end of 2013, unassigned fund balance totaled almost $178,000 or more than 3 times the 2014 budget appropriations. This occurred primarily because in 2008 and 2009 the District received unexpected insurance proceeds totaling about $157,000. Further, the Board currently has no plans to use a portion of the existing unassigned fund balance to reduce future real property tax levies. The District reported a capital reserve fund with a balance of $165,728 as of December 31, 2013. The Chairman told us that District officials created this reserve in the late 1990's to fund future costs of new vehicles. However, the Board could not provide us with a resolution, or any other documentation to show when or if this reserve fund was properly established or what type of reserve was established. The Chairman also informed us that the Board funded this reserve with annual budget appropriations of $10,000 until 2009. In 2010, District officials contracted with the City and another fire district to provide fire protection services to District residents instead of the fire department located within the District. Since then District officials continue to contract for fire protection services. As a result, the Board stopped annually budgeting for the capital reserve fund. District officials have not established any plans for using the money accounted for as a reserve fund. Because of the District's contractual arrangements with the City and the other fire district and the minimal amount of fire-fighting equipment owned, there is no apparent need for a capital reserve fund.

The Board needs to improve its oversight, including establishing appropriate internal controls over District activities. The Board inappropriately paid $990 to the Board Chair for service rendered, did not adopt written policies and procedures for cash receipts and disbursements, and did not adopt a travel policy. The Board also did not properly monitor the life insurance benefits provided to members, resulting in the improper coverage of paid firefighters under the volunteer firefighters' policy; did not have District financial records audited for 2011 and 2012 as required by law; and improperly retained an independent contractor to perform the duties of the Treasurer without a surety bond or written contract.

County officials need to improve internal controls over employee time and attendance practices and payroll processing. We found that the County overpaid $18,724 to employees for time not worked, or for leave time taken and not charged to leave accruals. We also identified an additional $24,824 in leave taken and not charged to leave accruals that County officials corrected as a result of our audit. This occurred because none of the departments examined had an effective system for reporting and recording time and attendance. Some County employees are not required to document their hours worked, and others report and approve their own attendance and leave records without independent verification and oversight. Therefore, County officials do not have adequate assurance that employees have worked the hours for which they have been paid. In addition, department heads did not require employees to submit formal time off request forms when taking time off. Consequently, some employees used accrued leave time that was not properly documented, available or deducted from leave accrual balances.

Cash receipts were not properly accounted for in the Department because City officials did not establish adequate internal controls that properly segregated the former senior account clerk's duties, and they did not provide adequate oversight of her duties. As a result of the Department's weak control environment, more than $5,000 in cash receipts was misappropriated over a three-month period. Specifically, we identified weaknesses in collecting, recording and depositing gross utility receipts and the fees for code enforcement, parking permits, water and sewer services, parking ticket fines, tax searches and garbage bags. City officials did not implement adequate policies and procedures over the collection of all cash receipts, provide adequate reconciliations of receivables to collections, implement adequate inventory controls and adequately segregate the functions of collecting, recording and depositing cash receipts. In addition, there were significant information technology weaknesses due to the use of shared usernames and passwords at the window terminals as well as the ability to overwrite transactions within the financial accounting program.