Auditors from the State Comptroller’s Office have determined that the Village of Canaseraga improperly paid over two-thirds of bills sampled from a more than a two-and-a-half years period ending in February of this year.
The audit found that “(a)lthough the 300 claims reviewed were for appropriate Village purposes,” $656,000, or 68 percent, “had one or more exceptions and should not have been approved for payment.”
Auditors also found that 20 of the claims, totaling some $4,400, “were not mathematically accurate when paid.”
The village board, in response to the report said the claims processing errors occurred “due to a misunderstanding we had as members. Many of us did not know this was inappropriate due to our short time in office,” and steps were taken immediately to address the bill paying process.
Key finds of the report include:
“Although the 300 claims reviewed were for appropriate Village purposes, certain claims were not adequately
supported or properly audited and approved before payment. As a result, there was an increased risk that
improper or unsupported payments could have been made and not detected and corrected.
“Of the 300 claims we reviewed totaling approximately $758,000, 205 claims (68 percent) totaling approximately $656,000 had one or more exceptions and should not have been approved for payment:
— 145 claims totaling approximately $588,000 were paid without evidence of being audited or reviewed by the Village Board (Board).
— 64 claims totaling approximately $114,000 were paid prior to scheduled monthly Board meetings and were
not audited prior to payment.
— 27 claims totaling approximately $24,000 did not have departmental approval and 20 claims totaling
approximately $4,400 were not mathematically accurate when paid.
“Board members did not know what their claims audit responsibilities were, nor did they take training to learn
what their claims audit responsibilities were.”
The full report is available at https://bit.ly/47sZn98.