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Mostly Cloudy Comptroller to village: Clean up your finances
Audit uncovers ‘poor practices,’ no illegality
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released an audit of the Village of Island Park late last month. The village received quite a few recommendations on what needed to change, but the comptroller’s office found no criminality.
According to the financial review, during the audit period of June 1, 2008, to Dec. 31, 2009, the village failed to develop “structurally balanced budgets,” which created deficits. The village also did not maintain proper records of some of its inter-fund transfers, the review concluded, and did not have a long-term financial plan in place. “The cumulative effect of poor budgetary practices and over-expending of appropriations places the village at an ongoing risk of deteriorating financial condition,” the report read.
“When I talked to [the auditors], I said we didn’t have a written plan, but we did have a long-range plan to slowly increase our fines and fees to be in line with other villages,” said Island Park Mayor Jim Ruzicka. “Slowly bring up our revenue so we wouldn’t have a deficit. And it’s been working.”
Ruzicka responded to some of the points raised in the audit, and agreed with them. “The audit was constructive,” he said. “It brought out things we may not have been looking at.”
Among the report’s conclusions was that the village underfunded public safety, transportation and general government support in its budgets from 2006 through 2008, creating shortfalls. Part of the explanation, the audit claimed, was that the village board did not have a process to monitor the budget from month to month, something Ruzicka said the village will be changing.
“One of the things they asked us for is a little more oversight on the budget as it’s spent on a monthly basis,” he said. “And what we’re going to be doing is instituting some changes … And one of those things will be that the trustees will have a little more oversight and get a report of the budget each month.”
The audit also reported that the village did not put out Requests For Proposals for bids for some of its professional services, which the auditors said should be done to ensure that the village is getting the best prices.
