OXFORD – The Village of Oxford's financial records were the topic of an audit performed by New York State Comptroller Tomas DiNapoli which highlighted a number of inconsistencies and unaccounted cash shortages.
The purpose of the audit was to review the Justice Court’s financial operations for the period of June 1, 2011 through April 30, 2013 in which a discrepancy of nearly $10,000 was reported by DiNapoli's office.
According to the comptroller’s office, village justices did not ensure that justice court moneys were accounted for properly. The audit found numerous errors and irregularities, from adjudicating traffic tickets to recording, collection and deposit, and in reporting to the Justice Court Fund (JCF) and the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
The 18-page report also identified a $3,500 shortage in the court’s account of the late Justice Charles Race, of which $2,300 in bail had been forfeited during the scope period but not deposited or remitted to the JCF. Additionally, a discrepancy of more than $1,300 in collections were recorded with no corresponding deposits.
More than 900 traffic tickets with outstanding fees on record at the DMV were not current in the court’s records and, therefore, represent significant unrealized revenue which prompted the comptroller’s audit. The justices did not prepare monthly accountabilities which the comptroller asserts could have identified these discrepancies.
During the time period of the audit, the village court, under Race, issued both manual and computer-generated receipts, but neither type of receipt was issued in sequential order. In addition, there were numerous missing receipt numbers in the software system that current village justices could not explain.
In ten cases totaling $2,520 that was reported to the DMV as paid, no records of the payments could be found in the software system or related deposits in the bank. Due to these discrepancies, there is no way to determine if moneys received may have been either lost or stolen.
Although the village board retains a CPA firm to annually review certain court activities, the reviews are generally presented to the board of trustees an average of six months after the pervious year, according to the audit finding. Additionally, Oxford board members did not fully understand the deficiencies reported or take any corrective action until recently.
In an accompanying list of corrective measures, the comptroller's office suggests that the village reimburses the amounts the accounts are short and bring the records and reports up-to-date by properly recording tickets issued and moneys received and deposited to ensure that each ticket is adjudicated and has an associated payment deposited in the bank or that it is being pursued for payment.
The state is also recommending that the village take necessary actions to reconcile the manual system for pursuing unpaid tickets to their software system and to the DMV database, and to consistently enforce unpaid tickets, perform monthly bank reconciliations and monthly accountabilities and provide greater oversight of the justices and implement the CPA firm’s recommendations to prevent further errors or irregularities.
In a village board of trustees review of the draft audit report issued to the state comptroller’s office and signed by Oxford Mayor Terry Stark, dated January 29, 2014, the village acknowledged DiNapoli's findings.
“These discrepancies may have occurred because the Justices performed all aspects of their duties without oversight by Board,” said the correspondence. “A CPA firm annually performed agreed-upon review procedures for the past nine years but its reports were provided to the Board on average six months after the end of the period reviewed which does not provide useful oversight in a timely manner.”
“To the (Oxford) Board’s credit, in the 2011 report which was received in December 2012, the CPA firm reported the lack of bank reconciliations and instances where money was recorded but not deposited; the Board subsequently asked Justice Race to provide bank reconciliations and the Justice then resigned.”
“The report findings are related to a separately elected Village Justice Court officials actions and procedures,” he added “Under normal circumstances, the Justice would be granted an exemption to the ‘one response from local government rule’ and he would be afforded the opportunity to respond on his behalf separately from the village to the findings and recommendations. Unfortunately, due to ill health, the Justice was not able to participate in the audit process and cannot now respond to audit findings due to his death in November 2013.”
The report indicates that lack of documentation and poor records leaves unclear whether the discrepancies were simple errors or intentional actions.
“As this open question could tarnish the court's image and the justice’s integrity and honesty over a career spanning more than 20 years,” the letter said, “it should be noted that all court audits prior to 2011 substantially complied in all material respects with the terms and conditions of the audits.”
A phone call to current Village Mayor Stark was not immediately returned as of press time.