State audit knocks Town of Oakfield for lack of proper bookkeeping for garbage punch cards

A comptroller's audit in the Town of Oakfield uncovered what appears to be an accounting error with garbage punch cards.

Some 1,519 cards, with a value of $30,380, are missing.

It doesn't appear that any funds are missing or have been misappropriated, said Town Supervisor Mike Cianfrini, and the comptroller's report doesn't accuse anybody of wrongdoing.

The town has already taken measures to improve controls, according to the report and Cianfrini.

"When we went to the ticket process, it was kind of a work in progress," Cianfrini said. "I don't think proper controls were put in place, and those have since been implemented."

Going forward,

• the town clerk will maintain an inventory record for cards when obtained, distributed to other entities for sale then sold, and will periodically reconcile the card records;
• the board will require waste facility attendants to retain completely used cards to assist in future audits; and,
• the board will audit the punch card records on an annual basis.

The town received 5,000 press-numbered cards for sale to the public in February 2011. The cards sell for $20 each at the town hall, village hall and three local businesses.

At the time of the audit, 1,446 cards had been sold and 2,035 were unsold with 1,519 missing.

Cianfrini said there doesn't appear, however, to be any missing funds.

"Due to the lack of sufficient record keeping, we could not determine the reasons for these gaps," the auditors state.

While there's no accusation of wrongdoing, the auditors do state, "there is no assurance that the unaccounted cards were not sold, lost or stolen."

The discrepancies were found, Cianfrini said, during an audit of the town's entire recording keeping and financial systems.

"When I met with them after this report came out -- they looked at the entire town's financial transactions -- and this was the only issue noted," Cianfrini said. "They were actually impressed with the financial controls in the town."