Dear Residents,
When I was first elected in November of 2017, Auditors from the State Comptroller's Office asked me to take the Oath of Office early so they could share the results of their recently completed Audit before I actually took office in January of 2018. I took copious notes during that meeting and remember being taken aback by the dollar amount they quoted ($134,658) in overpayments (among other things). I quickly realized however, that they arrive at these figures by adding up every half hour for every employee who was paid to work on their lunch break for four years, for example. Those half hours add up quickly as did many other mistakes and assumptions, once quantified.
After I started in January and met with staff it was apparent that there were many "past practices" that were followed that no one really knew how or when got started but just assumed they were approved in years past. There was little or no training and confusion in Payroll, especially due to the manual nature of everything the Department handled.
Similar to the many Compliance Audits I have sat though by banking regulators and Securities & Exchange Commission auditors, while they are painful to endure, the organization always comes out stronger afterwards.
In Union Vale, your Town Board got to work addressing the weaknesses immediately in early 2018. We pushed through and discussed all the issues, hired professionals, instituted tight new internal controls, argued about policies, ultimately agreed on substance and while this was laborious and painful, we recognize that the Finance Office and the Town is much stronger as a result. We are now in a very good place with top notch, experienced staff.
The Payroll Audit is attached for your review. My response begins on page 8. If you have further questions or concerns, we welcome hearing from you so please do not hesitate to come in or call.
Regards,
Betsy Maas
Town Supervisor
