The town of Saugerties failed to properly audit $2.1 million of credit card payments, didn’t adequately authorize or document most of its card purchases and violated its own purchasing policies, according to a state review of calendar years 2021 and 2022. 

The town’s board didn’t perform “a thorough and deliberate audit” of any of the 50 card payments it reviewed, according to a report this month from the New York State Comptroller’s Division of Local Government and School Accountability. The state audit also found that of 50 credit card payments totalling $28,815, 92% lacked sufficient documentation and 72% weren’t properly authorized.

Saugerties processed 5,131 bills valued at $25.7 million in those two years and 836 credit card charges that added up to $328,629. Among the findings:

• 15 purchases totaling $91,979 didn’t comply with the town’s own purchasing policy. In one case, Saugerties paid a contractor $46,500 to clear highway department debris without seeking a bid or documented exemption.
  
• 36 credit card purchases totaling $10,868 were made by people who weren’t authorized to use town credit cards.
  
• 46 credit card charges lacked adequate supporting documentation. A recreation department employee, for example, spent $5,888 on building materials without a purchase order or proof that the materials were received.
  
• Claims were paid without proper authorization, sufficient documentation, or budget appropriations. In 2022, the town paid $203,775 to replace the roof of the water department without budgeted funds and $121,380 in overdue electric bills despite budgeting only $96,400.
  
• 60 purchase orders totaling $486,181 were issued after invoices were received.
  

Costello acknowledged the audit’s findings and pledged to fix the issues. 

“The audit provides a valuable test to say how are you doing and these are what these current standards are,” he said in an interview. “We’re going to build off that and do better.”

Costello attributed some of the lapses to the unexpected departure of the town bookkeeper during the two years under review.

“The circumstances of her leaving were not ideal,” he said. “When she did decide to leave it was abrupt and auditors showed up,” making access to all the data “a little challenging.”

The town hired a new bookkeeper in 2023 and added two part-time bookkeeping staff. Officials also began generating monthly financial reports and expanding the use of centralized budgeting software across departments.

The state offered nine recommendations, including training for board members on claims auditing, stricter controls over credit card usage, canceling unnecessary cards and discontinuing automatic payments before board review.

Amy Wu is a reporter covering Woodstock and Saugerties. Send correspondence to amy@theoverlooknews.com.