OTSELIC – The New York State Comptroller’s Office is calling on Town of Otselic elected officials to enact changes to their bookkeeping practices that were initially recommended when the town was audited back in 2021.
A review of the initial audit  shows that the Otselic town supervisor and board members have fully met just one of the 11 audit recommendations made by the state comptroller and only partially met another, according to the report. Nine recommendations were not implemented, among them an appeal for the town supervisor to offer accurate monthly financial reports to the town board.
The town board’s response to the original 2021 audit  stated that “Wherever possible, corrective actions will occur in response to the audit findings.” However, board members had expressed some contempt for the initial report, arguing that the supervisor “had approval of the board on major financial decisions,” and taxable dollars asked of Otselic residents had decreased between 2019 and 2021.
Nevertheless, the State Comptroller’s Office points to inaction of the Otselic Town Board to fully implement recommendations, stating that this “undermines confidence and accountability in the town’s finances and forgoes an opportunity to learn of future risks from our office’s early warning system.”
The report outlines nine recommendations not implemented by Otselic board members. They include:
The board should require the supervisor to provide accurate monthly financial reports.
The board should periodically review the supervisor’s financial records to ensure errors and irregularities do not exist in the accounting records.
The board should audit or provide for an audit of the supervisor’s financial records and reports on an annual basis. 
The board should seek out appropriate training for financial administration and recordkeeping. 
The supervisor should maintain accurate financial records and reports, including bank reconciliations, and provide the board with accurate budget-to
actual reports for each operating fund. 
The supervisor should correct the errors identified in the town’s accounting records.
The supervisor should prepare and file the overdue AUDs with our office immediately and in future years within 60 days after the close of the financial year. 
The supervisor should attend training to develop skills for recordkeeping and financial management.
The board should ensure that all officials and employees are familiar with and follow the requirements of General Municipal Law (GML) Article 18 as they relate to conflicts of interest.
The comptroller’s office also advised that the town board adopt a code of ethics which it has done.
The town has also partially implemented a recommendation to require the supervisor to prepare and submit the late annual update documents (AUD) with the Office of the State Comptroller and prepare future AUDs in a timely manner. The Supervisor has filed the 2016 through 2023 fiscal years’ AUDs with OSC. However, these past reports were filed between 77 and 2,343 days late, according to the comptroller’s review.
“Gaps in filing undermine transparency and create missed opportunities to identify fiscal stress earlier when it might be more easily remedied,” the report states. “Furthermore, when the supervisor does not file, or file in a timely manner, it leaves local officials and taxpayers in the dark about possible financial problems.”