Audits of Local Governments

The Office of the New York State Comptroller’s Division of Local Government and School Accountability conducts performance audits of local governments and school districts. Performance audits provide findings or conclusions based on an evaluation of evidence against criteria. Local officials use audit findings to improve program performance and operations, reduce costs and contribute to public accountability.

For audits older than 2013, contact us at [email protected].

For audits of State and NYC agencies and public authorities, see Audits.

Topics
Town | Inventories

June 5, 2020 –

The Board and Town officials did not adequately safeguard and account for Highway Department (Department) assets.

Town | Purchasing

June 5, 2020 –

The Board did not ensure that officials and employees procured goods and services in accordance with the procurement policy.

Village | Financial Condition

June 5, 2020 –

The Board could improve its budgeting and management of fund balance and reserves.

Town | Claims Auditing, Other

May 29, 2020 –

The Board did not annually audit the records of all officers and did not properly audit claims.

Town | Information Technology

May 29, 2020 –

The Board did not develop a disaster recovery plan and Town officials did not monitor compliance with the acceptable use policy and manage system access.

Fire District | Financial Condition

May 22, 2020 –

The Board did not effectively monitor expenditures and fund balance and did not ensure that reserve transactions were transparent to the public.

Fire District | General Oversight

May 22, 2020 –

The Board maintained a lax control environment and did not carry out its responsibility to oversee financial operations and safeguard District assets.

City | Other

May 21, 2020 –

The City of Yonkers is authorized to issue debt not to exceed $45 million to liquidate current deficits in the City School District's general fund as of June 30, 2014. Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2014 requires the City to submit its proposed budgets for the next fiscal year to the State Comptroller and the Commissioner of Education for review while the deficit obligations are outstanding. Our review of the proposed 2020-21 budget disclosed the following issues which should be reviewed by City officials for appropriate action. The School District's 2020-21 budget request is $661.7 million for appropriations; however, the City's Executive Budget contains revenues for the District of $639.2 million, resulting in a budget gap of at least $22.5 million. The City is projecting unassigned general fund balance of $39 million at the end of the 2019-20 fiscal year, however, this includes $97 million in Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM) revenue that has been deferred indefinitely. Before finalizing the budget, the City should review fund balance projections as the result of changes to State aid. This is an important step because the City is appropriating almost all of the projected available fund balance. As a result, the City's appropriation of $33 million in the general fund may not be available. We estimate that the appropriations for overtime for police and firefighting are likely underestimated by as much as $2 million and $4 million, respectively.

County | Revenues

May 15, 2020 –

The Office of Public Administrator (PA) guidelines regarding the sale of estate real property state that the PA shall determine fair market value and sell all real property or cooperative apartments at public auction or by private sale at the highest and best price available. The Administrator did not always get a professional appraisal for estate houses before listing them for sale.

Fire District | Financial Condition, Records and Reports

May 15, 2020 –

The Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) did not properly manage District financial operations and the Treasurer did not maintain accurate and reliable accounting records.

City | Other

May 13, 2020 –

Significant revenue and expenditure projections in the proposed budget are reasonable. Although the City appears to have budgeted sufficiently for termination salary payments for the 2020-21 fiscal year, we caution the City that its continued practice of borrowing to fund these operating costs is not fiscally prudent. The City has improved its projections for overtime costs in certain departments. However, it does not appear that the total appropriation will be sufficient. The City's proposed budget includes a tax levy of $46.6 million which is $4,136 above the limit established by law.

School District | Information Technology

May 8, 2020 –

District officials did not monitor or properly safeguard information technology (IT) assets. (As of September 2019, the District's inventory records had 4,774 IT assets.)

Court and Trust | Other

May 8, 2020 –

The purpose of our review was to determine whether County officials have established appropriate controls to safeguard and account for court and trust funds for the period January 1, 2017 through March 11, 2020.

School District | Financial Condition

May 8, 2020 –

The Board and District officials could improve their budgeting practices.

School District | Financial Condition

May 1, 2020 –

The Board and District officials need to improve budgeting practices.

Town | Information Technology

May 1, 2020 –

The Board did not adopt long-term plans or adequately safeguard the Town's IT assets.

School District | Information Technology

May 1, 2020 –

District officials did not adequately safeguard online banking transactions.

School District | Financial Condition

May 1, 2020 –

The District's financial condition has significantly declined and the Board did not adopt a multiyear financial plan.

Fire District | General Oversight

May 1, 2020 –

In most respects, District officials established adequate controls to safeguard assets.

School District | Financial Condition

April 24, 2020 –

The Board did not appropriately manage the District's fund balance or ensure that reserve funds were properly established and reasonably funded.