North East books audited by state

NORTH EAST ­­— The town of North East is being audited by the state comptroller’s office for the first time since 1999. According to town Supervisor John Merwin, the town was past due, and would have been audited sooner had it not been for staffing issues at the state level. Merwin said the practice is a standard one all municipalities must face.“They look through everything ranging from your financial accounts to town clerk accounts,” he said of the comptroller’s office. “They look through your policies and procedures.”Merwin said the town has been trying to catch up on certain practices and institute official policies to tighten its standard operating procedures. The town had preliminary meetings with the two auditors two weeks ago, at which time they gave Merwin a rough schedule.“I don’t think it’s going to be that long for us [to institute official policies] because we are in relatively good shape,” he said. “We have our own auditing accountant check our books on a periodic basis, so we’re doing what we’re supposed to do, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem.”The supervisor said the auditors are going through the town’s paperwork and “will be here for a while,” but not on a daily basis. They will then submit their findings to the state and eventually the town will get a report.“We don’t know what they’re going to say,” Merwin said. “We’re just assuming we’ve done everything correctly and keep working.”Among the items under review are the retirement payroll records, procedures and policies.“They’re pretty thorough,” Merwin said, adding the review could be a few weeks. “But it’s standard procedure for all municipalities and special districts, like library and fire districts. Everybody always thinks it’s just about the ledgers but it’s the whole operation.”The Town Board has been cooperating with the auditors, and Merwin said the process has been relatively painless, even if unpopular.“No one enjoys it. It’s like being audited by the IRS, no one likes it but you know municipalities and government bodies have to be held accountable and do things the right way,” he said. “And the comptroller’s office just wants things to be right. A lot of people rely on things being done correctly and we’re quite confident we’re doing all the right things. And if they show anything that needs to be altered then we’re going to do them.”The sentiment among Town Board members, Merwin said, is that “we wanted to make sure it’s known we’re not trying to hide anything,” from the public.“It’s just part of the process,” he said. “Unfortunately people jump to the wrong conclusions. Obviously we want to make sure we’re doing things right. We really don’t mind. And they’re not pulling requirements out of the air. Everything that we should do is what they’re having us do. They’re not making things up.”