The Office of the New York State Comptroller, led by Thomas P. DiNapoli, has released a series of audits examining the financial and operational practices of various local governments and school districts across the state.
In one audit, officials found that a district board and its administrators did not properly manage fund balances. Budgets consistently overestimated appropriations by an average of $1.3 million per year over five years, with most overestimations related to special education instruction. The district’s reported surplus fund balance exceeded the statutory limit by up to $1.8 million in some years. Despite these surpluses, taxes were increased annually by about $318,000 on average from 2019-20 through 2023-24.
Another audit identified issues with payroll payments for activities such as tutoring and sports scorekeeping. Time sheets for 13 employees lacked adequate support for payments totaling more than $100,000, and discrepancies were found in records for chaperoning and scorekeeping events. The report noted the absence of a written payroll policy or procedures to ensure accuracy and approval of these payments.
A review of BOCES administrative expenditures showed that while officials properly claimed $3.8 million in state aid for certain costs, they also claimed nearly $2 million more than entitled due to errors in facility rental revenue reporting. Additionally, two component districts did not receive almost $30,000 in state aid because reconciliation steps were not completed after corrections were made with the State Education Department.
Procurement practices were also scrutinized in several districts. One board did not seek competition when purchasing a ladder truck worth $1.9 million or maintain documentation justifying exceptions to bidding requirements. Other purchases totaling tens of thousands of dollars lacked required quotes or proposals as stipulated by policy.
Auditors found deficiencies in claims auditing processes as well; some disbursements were paid without board knowledge or proper support documentation.
Oversight issues extended to Length of Service Award Programs (LOSAP), where boards failed to ensure annual audits or demonstrate compliance with procurement policies for investment management services.
Concerns regarding lead exposure remediation surfaced at multiple school districts. In one case, auditors determined that dozens of water outlets had not been sampled or exempted according to law and health regulations due to lack of a sampling plan; another district had more than half its outlets unsampled and failed to report test results as required.
Follow-up reviews assessed progress on prior recommendations at Greenwood Lake Union Free School District and Port Jervis City School District. Greenwood Lake implemented all nine procurement-related recommendations from a previous audit, while Port Jervis fully implemented one out of six financial condition recommendations since their last review.
For further details on New York State Comptroller audits and findings: https://www.osc.ny.gov/local-government/audits
