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In addition, we examined 6,077 hours of leave used by the 27 employees we tested to determine whether leave request forms were approved by the employee’s supervisor or other appropriate official; 308 hours (5 percent) did not have a leave request form approved by the employee’s supervisor or other appropriate official. For example, the parks department head approved 57 hours of their own leave use because no one was designated as their supervisor in the payroll system. Similarly, the Personnel Clerk used 92 hours of leave without proper approval. The Personnel Clerk had their employees approve 80 hours of this leave and the Personnel Clerk self-approved the remaining 12 hours. In both instances, the payroll system lacked the employee’s supervisor. Had the Board developed and adopted written policies and procedures to guide the process for maintaining leave records, including recording leave usage, updating leave balances and verifying leave was recorded accurately, these errors and discrepancies could have been avoided and/or corrected in a timely manner. The Board was aware of the need for policies and procedures and contracted with a consultant in 2020 to provide these to the Town along with other business office functions. However, the consultant did not meet this obligation and the Board took no further action to develop and adopt written policies and procedures. Had the known payroll system deficiencies been corrected, periodic independent reviews of the leave records and balances been performed, and the Board developed and adopted written policies and procedures to guide the process for maintaining leave records, including recording leave usage, updating leave balances and verifying leave was recorded accurately, these errors and discrepancies could have been avoided and/or corrected in a timely manner. What Are Accurate, Approved and Supported Separation Payments? Accurate, approved and supported separation payments consist of compensation paid to employees when leaving employment for unused, accumulated leave according to a board-approved employment contract or a CBA. Additionally, these payments should be supported by complete, accurate and reliable leave records. A town board is responsible for establishing and monitoring compliance with written policies and procedures which establish specific responsibilities for the preparation and disbursement of separation payments. This written documentation communicates the town board’s intentions to employees and to the staff who are responsible for administering and processing separation payments. In addition, an appropriate official, such as the town supervisor, should regularly review and approve separation payments and all necessary supporting documentation to ensure that payments are made in accordance with written CBAs or individual employment contracts and that these calculations are supported by leave balances and calculated accurately. 4 Of f ic e of t he New York State Comptroller