Clarkson Supervisor Paul Kimball says its important for taxpayers in the town to understand that a recent state comptroller’s audit “found no material discrepancies, no accounting problems,” he told the Suburban News and Hamlin-Clarkson Herald. “The Town of Clarkson has no debt, we pay cash for everything,” Supervisor Kimball added and noted that the town’s tax rate has held steady since the 1990s.
The audit criticized the town for, “not (developing) policies or procedures for budgeting practices and, as a result, repeatedly adopted budgets with unrealistic estimates for revenues, expenditures and appropriated fund balance.”
Auditors also found, “the Board has not adopted, reviewed, updated or enforced adequate financial-related policies to ensure Town resources are protected. The financial duties in the Supervisor’s Office were not adequately segregated and there were no effective compensating controls. Additionally, the Board has not entered into detailed written agreements with the payroll processor and bank to ensure that the Town’s information and resources are adequately safeguarded,” the audit states.
Auditors warned that routinely appropriating fund balance that will not actually be used, “misleads taxpayers and often results in increases in excessive fund balances or much smaller decreases than budgeted.”
Kimball says he defends the conservative budgeting practices of the town and pointed to the difficulties the state has in managing its own finances.
“New York State sold prisons and bridges to raise money to balance their budget,” Kimball says. “The state should take care of their own finances before they start attacking the towns.”
He explained that the town has a CPA, – P. Robert Fox of EFP Rotenberg, LLP, who conducts an internal audit each year which includes both the town finances and justice courts and that the CPA has “Never found anything improper.”
In his letter of response to the comptroller, Kimball stated that the town would use the audit report as a “tool to reflect on best practices and make corrective action where considered appropriate or necessary.”
He wrote that the town has already implemented and or updated many of its policies since the beginning of the Comptroller’s field work, including the investment policy and information technology policy (approved 2013).
“The Town plans on adopting policies and procedures for cash receipts and disbursements, claims processing, payroll and maintenance of leave records, as well,” Kimball wrote.
He noted that the town’s policy is to budget revenues conservatively and that, “The Town and the Office of the State Comptroller have different philosophies on budget policies and procedures.”
Kimball told the Suburban News and Hamlin-Clarkson Herald that the town has implemented the financial controls recommended by the state which are reasonable for a town the size of Clarkson.
He says Clarkson has limited resources and some of what the state is advising would require hiring additional staff.
“… the segregation of duties in a town Clarkson’s size is difficult, if not impossible, to meet without spending more than the Town deems prudent. The town has consulted with its Certified Public Accountant about the risks and internal controls needed. It has taken the CPA’s and OSC’s observations into consideration in evaluating segregation of duties and risks of loss,” Kimball stated in his letter of response.
Kimball also provided the state with a Town of Clarkson Corrective Action Plan regarding specific audit recommendations in his letter.
In addition to developing written policies for cash receipts and disbursements, claims processing, and payroll, the Plan includes:
•Continued careful consideration regarding the solicitation of competition for professional services;
•Supervisor’s evaluation of effective compensating controls, including reviewing financial reports, bank statements and audit logs where available;
•Supervisor’s continued review of monthly bank reconciliations;
•The Town Attorney will examine the Town’s current agreement for payroll services and the Board will implement any recommended changes;
•The Town will work with its bank on each referenced issue and obtain a comprehensive agreement particular to the Town of Clarkson. The Town also plans to pursue obtaining specific comprehensive agreements with its bank and payroll provider to meet OSC recommendations.
Supervisor Kimball says the Corrective Action Plan has been implemented and that he and the Town Board anticipate achieving stated goals by the end of 2014.
