HUNTER — The village’s finances were not adequately managed in recent years, according to an audit report of the municipality’s financial operations from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
“The (village) board and clerk-treasurer did not properly manage village financial operations,” according to DiNapoli’s report. “The board did not provide oversight and the clerk-treasurer did not perform all required duties.”
The audit determined the village clerk did not prepare or maintain board meeting minutes, maintain supporting documentation for deposits or file annual financial reports with the Office of the State Comptroller, among other things.
Mayor Alan Higgins said village clerk Kathleen Hilbert, who has been in office since 2015 when she was first elected to the position, is not at fault for the deficiencies found by the DiNapoli’s office.
“Lack of proper staffing and changes in the governing body have contributed to their cause (the audit’s finding),” Higgins said in a February letter to DiNapoli in response to the comptroller’s finding.
According to the report, the board did not ensure that its actions were recorded or available to the public, as well as provide oversight for the clerk- treasurer’s payroll.
“Minutes of the village are paramount to maintaining transparency and documenting actions of the governing body,” Higgins said his February response to DiNapoli. “While all transcribed minutes are not available, the village does have audio recordings of the meetings.
Regarding the audit’s claim that Hilbert did not perform proper financial reporting, Higgins, in his letter to DiNapoli, claimed she did report to the board and she was prevented from issuing the reports by the previous village administration.
“The clerk provided the Board of Trustees with monthly financial reports,” according to Higgins’ letter. “However, the clerk could not provide the reports to the auditors because the former mayor and accountant removed her access.”
DiNapoli’s audit covers June 1, 2022 through May 31, 2023. Higgins has been in office since April 2023 and previously served in the position from June 2021 through April 2022. Former Mayor Michael Papa served from July 2022 through March 2023.
“The clerk-treasurer also was paid $34,988 without support or approval over a two-year period for overtime ($32,462) and unused leave time ($2,526),” the report said. “The lack of oversight and disorganization at the village office could allow for funds to be misappropriated without detection or correction.”
DiNapoli’s report offered key recommendations to the village that include the board provide oversight of its financial operations and the clerk-treasurer should perform duties as required. The mayor should ensure that timesheets are approved by the officer or employee who directly supervises the employee before a payment is made, according to the audit.
“The clerk-treasurer performed all financial and recordkeeping duties with little to no oversight, including receiving and depositing money (real property taxes and water and sewer fees), writing checks, making bank transfers, processing payroll, and recording transactions in the accounting records,” according to the audit. “Board members did not review bank statements, canceled checks or payroll information, and no one else periodically compared receipts with deposits or reviewed disbursement activity.
“The current mayor told us the board has not performed the audit because they thought the clerk-treasurer was doing their job. When the board does not perform its fiscal responsibilities, it cannot determine areas in need of improvement, analyze operations to make informed financial decisions, or recognize the extent of the issues as we identified throughout this audit.”
Higgins said moving forward, the village will create a corrective action plan to address the audit’s key findings and to ensure proper financial practices for the future.
“It’s just really important to us to correct the issues,” Higgins said Wednesday. “We’ve been working with the comptroller’s office for over a year on the two-year audit and we have some disagreement, but we acknowledge the disparities.
“We are hiring more office help to complete the tasks we are deficient in. A lot of the information they (DiNapoli’s office) couldn’t obtain was because they weren’t written, but we have the information from our meetings in audio recordings. They’ve (the comptroller’s office) been offered the audio tapes and anyone can obtain them as well.”
For more information on DiNapoli’s report, visit osc.ny.gov. The documents and information are located under the audits of local governments tab.