Town of Binghamton Audit May Reveal Problems

12/7/2012 (Updated 6:44:39 PM)

BINGHAMTON -- A state audit on the Town of Binghamton reveals financial issues with the town's practices.

The State Comptroller's released the details of the report last week. 

They found issues such as more than $4,250 missing that should have been collected for the recreation programs, and adjustments to water and sewer bills without proper authorization.

The audit states the Supervisor Tim Whitesell did not design adequate controls and town officials didn't provide the proper oversight for the collection or disbursement of town moneys.

But, Whitesell says nothing that came out of the report shows any real misappropriations.

"We've had staff here at Town Hall that have worked very closely for over 20 years.  At times complacency has fallen into place.  We're just reinforcing our policies and procedures and tightening up our controls," said Whitesell.

Whitesell said the person who was in charge of the town's recreation program at the time no longer works for the town.

The audit also showed a total of $2,500 in inappropriate payments may have been made to employee reimbursement from a medical pool.  One employee also did not receive a direct deposit for more than $1,250.

There was also no written contract who provides IT services to the town and didn't have procedures in place to monitor their computer use police.

Whitesell said those issues have been addressed by having a contract and changing all the passwords on town computers.

The town has 90 days to issue a formal response to the audit.



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