1994-12-31
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TOWN OF WAPPINGER, NEW YORK
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, AND
RESPONSES BY TOWN OF WAPPINGER, NEW YORK
DECEMBER 31. 1994
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TOWN OF WAPPINGER, NEW YORK
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
AND RESPONSES BY TOWN OF WAPPINGER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECEMBER 31.1994
DESCRIPTION
PAGElS)
Accountants' Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-2
Findings and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Responses by Town of Wappinger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4-5
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Sedore,
0' Sullivan,
letterio
& Barschi
Certified Public Accountants. P.C.
ACCOUNTANTS' REPORT
Constance Smith, ~upervisor
arid the Members of the Town Board
Town of Wappinger, New York
Towh 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, 1994, we considered
its internal co~trol 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. Box 918 · Wappingers Falls NY 12590
Wappingers Falls (914) 297-11l1/fax (914) 297-1432 . Beacon (914) 831-Q542/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.
~.Io~/~e~/a.PA..c.l ~C.
Wappingers Falls, New York
July 14, 1995
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FINDING 1:
FINDING 2:
FINDING 3:
FINDING 4:
TOWN OF WAPPINGER, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
DECEMBER 31. 1994
Continued excess accumulation of F~d Balance for the General Fund.
We recommend that the Town review its budget in or~er 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.
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.
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.
The Town has authorized an installment payment plan and waiver of the
re-Ievy of an outstanding water bill. No reference to the authorization
of this transaction was found in the minutes of the regular and/or
special meetings of the Town Board. No minutes were taken at the
workshop meetings of the Town Board.
We recommend that minutes be taken of all Board Meetings where a
quorum is present as described under the open meetings law. Further
those minutes should contain a full description of actions taken by the
Board.
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TOWN OF WAPPINGER
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CONSTANCE O. SMITH
SUPERVISOR
SUPERVISOR'S OFFICE
20 MIDDLEBUSH ROAD
P.O. BOX 324
WAPPINGERS FALLS, NY 12590-0324
TELEPHONE: (914) 297-2744
FAX: (914) 297-4558
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January 10,
1996
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MEMO TO:
Sedore, O'Sullivan, Letterio & Barschi
FROM:
Constance O. Smith, Supervisor, Town of
Wappinger
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RE:
AUDIT RESPONSE
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In response to your audit findings, I offer the following:
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FINDING 1: Continued excess accumulation of Fund
Balance for' the General Fund.
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ANSWER 1: The Supe rv i SOl' and Compt roll er of the Town
do review the prior year budgeted amounts and actual
amounts as a tool to prepare the future budget. As chief
fiscal officer, the Supervisor's policy is not to create a
yo-yo effect on taxpayers bills. Whenever possible, the
Town has proj ected revenues based on prior years. The
Supervisor is reluctant to budget for revenues coming from
New York State because in past YE-~ars, there has been a
great d(~al less between budgeted amount of state aid and
actual ('eceived.
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FINDING 2:
collected.
Payments made in excess of escrow amounts
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ANSWER 2: In 1995, the Supervisor implemented a new
procedure for Planning Board escrow accounts. Vie are in
the process of bringing all escrow accounts in line.
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FINDING 3: Excess interest allowed to accumulate lr1
Agency accounts.
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ANSWER 3: The Supervisor will present numbers to the
Town Board for direction as soon as possible.
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page 2
AUDIT RLSPONSE
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~lNDING 4: The Town has authorized an installment
pavment plan and waiver of the re-levy of an outstanding
water bill. No reference to the authorization of this
transaction was found in the minutes of the regular and/or
special meetings of the Town Board. No minutes were taken
at the workshop meetings of the Town Board.
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ANSWER 4: This item was addressed in a Town Board
~xecutive meeting and the action that was taken was on the
advice of the Town Attorney.
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COS:dlv
Attachment
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