1995-12-31 (2)
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TOWN OF WAPPINGER, NEW YORK
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, AND
RESPONSES BY TOWN OF WAPPINGER, NEW YORK
DECEMBER 31. 1995
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TOWN OF WAPPINGER, NEW YORK
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
AND RESPONSES BY TOWN OF WAPPINGER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECEMBER 31. 1995
DESCRIPTION
PAGElS)
Accountants' Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-2
Findings and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-4
Responses by Town of Wappinger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-6
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Sedore,
0' Sullivan,
Letterio
& Barschi
Certified Public Accountants. P.C.
ACCOUNTANTS' REPORT
Constance Smith, Supervisor
and the Members of the Town Board
Town of Wappinger, New York
Town Hall
20 Middlebush Road
Wappingers Falls, New York 12590
In planning and performing our audit of the general purpose financial statements of the Town
of Wappinger, New York, as of and for the year ended December 31, 1995, we considered
its internal control structure in order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of
expressing our opinion on the financial statements and not to provide assurance on the
internal control structure. However, we noted certain matters involving the internal control
structure and its operation that we consider to be reportable conditions under standards
established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Reportable conditions
involve matters coming to our attention relating to significant deficiencies in the design or
operation of the internal control structure that in our judgment could adversely affect the
Town of Wappinger's ability to record, process, summarize, and report financial data
consistent with the assertions of management in the financial statements.
A material weakness is a reportable condition in which the design or operation of one or
more of the internal control structure elements does not reduce to a relatively low level the
risk that errors or irregularities in amounts that would be material in relation to the financial
statements being audited may occur and not be detected within a timely period by employees
in the normal course of performing their assigned functions.
Our consideration of the internal control structure would not necessarily disclose all matters
in the internal control structure that might be reportable conditions and, accordingly, would
not necessarily disclose all reportable conditions that are also considered to be material
weaknesses as defined above. However, we believe none of the reportable conditions
described in the following schedule of "Findings and Recommendations" to be a material
weakness.
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62 East Main Street. P.O. Box918. Wappingers Falls NY 12590
Wappingers Falls (914) 297-1111/fax (914) 297-1432 . Beacon (914) 83H)542/fax (914) 831-5114 · Newburgh (914) 565-1373
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This report is intended solely for the information and use of the Supervisor and the Members
of the Town Board of the Town of Wappinger, New York.
~~r (J~~J ~v~~'
Wappingers Falls, New York
June 14, 1996
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TOWN OF WAPPINGER, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
DECEMBER 31. 1995
REPORTABLE CONDITIONS:
FINDING 1:
Payments made in excess of escrow amounts collected.
The Town collects escrow funds to ensure that costs incurred by the
Town, while projects or subdivisions are being considered by the
Planning Board, are borne by the applicants. The Town maintains
records for each project/applicant so that balances can be monitored,
however, in some cases the disbursements exceeded the escrow
collected.
The Town should continue to monitor escrow balances; requiring
additional payments when necessary while improving collection efforts
on those accounts where expenditures have exceeded amounts deposited
with the Town. Resolution of old balances should be addressed on an
on-going basis as well. We note that the escrow liabilities exceed the
cash held by the Town by approximately $16,000.
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TOWN OF WAPPINGER, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS (CONT'D)
DECEMBER 31. 1995
OTHER FINDINGS:
FINDING 1:
FINDING 2:
FINDING 3:
Continued excess accumulation of Fund Balance for the General Fund.
We recommend that the Town review its budget in order to properly
monitor revenues and expenditures for any given year. As part of
preparing the budget for the following year, the Town should relate
actual collections of revenues and project a reasonable amount for the
following year. After taking this information into consideration, the
Town should appropriate a reasonable amount of Fund Balance.
Finally, the Town would compute its tax levy.
Excess interest allowed to accumulate in Agency accounts.
Certain Agency funds are kept in interest-bearing accounts. Interest
earned on these funds has not been transferred to the General Fund, but
has been allowed to accumulate, in one case to an amount in excess of
$21,000.
We recommend that the interest be periodically transferred to the
General Fund and the appropriate revenue be recorded.
Documentation supporting payroll withholding and deductions were
found to be incomplete. In our sample of five employees we noted that
authorizations deductions were missing in 2 cases; form W-4 was
missing in one case and Form 1-9 was missing in three cases.
We recommend that documentation be reviewed to insure its
completeness before adding on employees or changing his or her status.
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CO,t-lSTANCE O. SMITH
SUPERVISOR
TELEPHONE: (914) 297-2744
FAX: (914) 297-4558
August 29, 1996
MEMO TO:
FROM:
RE:
TOWN OF WAPPINGER
SUPERVISOR'S OFFICE
20 MIDDLEBUSH ROAD
P.O. BOX 324
WAPPINGERS FALLS. NY 12590-0324
Sedore, o'sullivan, Letterio & Barschi
Constance O. Smith
AUDIT RESPONSE
In response to your audit findings, I offer the following:
FINDING 1:
ANSWER 1:
OTHER FINDINGS:
Payments made in excess of escrow amounts
collected.
The Town has been monitoring these escrow accounts
very closely. All of the balances will be under
control by the end of 1996. The Comptroller's
Office, Building Dept. and Zoning Dept have all
been cooperating to accomplish this.
FINDING 1:
ANSWER 1:
FINDING 2:
ANSWER 2:
Continued excess accumulation of Fund Balance for
General Fund.
The Town does review the budget and appropriates
reasonable amounts of Fund Balance to off set
taxes.
Excess interest allowed to accumulate in Agency
accounts.
The $16,000 excess in escrow has been moved in 1996
to A Fund per Town Board action to help pay for
paving of the Town Hall parking lot.
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..
Audit Response
page 2
FINDING 3:
ANSWER 3:
COS:dlv
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Documentation supporting payroll ~ithholding and
deductions were found to be incomplete. In our
sample of five employees we noted that
authorizations deductions were missing in 2 cases;
form W-4 was missing in one case and Form 1-9 was
missing in three cases.
The Town has corrected this in August 1996.
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