Publisher's summary
The Board and Village officials did not establish adequate internal controls over Department cash receipts. The Board did not adopt written cash receipt policies, cash receipt duties were not properly segregated and the Supervisor did not adequately oversee the cash receipt function. As a result, the attendant had almost complete control over the cash receipts without adequate oversight. From August 1, 2011 through November 30, 2017, we reviewed approximately 2,000 receipts issued by Department employees for cash collections totaling approximately $264,000. We estimate that additional unreceipted cash of $14,000 was collected for swim gate fees during this period. However, the attendant reported cash collections of approximately $107,700, a cash shortage of more than $170,000. During this period, less than half the amount of cash receipted by employees was remitted to the Treasurer. OSC's Division of Investigations in conjunction with the Erie County District Attorney's Office jointly investigated this matter. In October 2018, the attendant admitted stealing more than $150,000 from the Village and altering public records from 2011 through 2017. She pleaded guilty to grand larceny, false filing and official misconduct in October 2018 and was sentenced in March 2019. As part of her sentence, she repaid the Village $156,374.
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adequately oversee the cash receipt function. As a result, the attendant had
almost complete control over the cash receipts without adequate oversight.
Although cash receipts were collected by several Department employees, the
Attendant was the only person4 involved in the cash receipts reconciliation
process. She did this task with minimal supervisory review or oversight. Cash
and checks were collected from customers by Department employees who would
generally complete press-numbered receipts with pertinent information such as
customer name, program, amount collected, form of payment (cash or check)
and collection date. The collections and receipts were then placed in an unlocked
drawer in the Department office.5
The attendant would count the collections and compare them to the press-
numbered receipts. She then created a summary cash report indicating the total
fees collected by program or account code. However, the attendant prepared
these reports sporadically and did not submit the collections and report to the
Supervisor on any predetermined basis (e.g., daily or weekly).
The Supervisor would take the collections and report to the Treasurer for deposit,
but did not verify that the amounts provided were supported by the receipts or
matched the report. The reports did not include any evidence to support the
source and amount of the funds remitted to the Treasurer, such as corresponding
receipts or a detailed itemized list showing the amount collected from each
customer. Additionally, Village and Department officials did not periodically confirm
that cash collections, as reported by the attendant, matched the amount collected
according to the corresponding press-numbered receipts.
Department officials did not maintain a list of daily cash receipts and the primary
method of recording individual cash receipts was the duplicate receipt copy.
However, Department employees did not always issue duplicate receipts for all
cash collected or for checks received by mail. Allowing the attendant to have
custody of cash receipts and be responsible for reconciling the cash drawer and
recordkeeping without adequate oversight increases the risk that cash receipts
may not be deposited or that errors or irregularities could occur and remain
undetected and uncorrected.
Cash Receipts Were Not Remitted or Deposited
We compared the amounts deposited and shown in the attendant’s reports to the
press-numbered receipts from August 1, 2011 through November 30, 2017. We
4 From August 1, 2011 through September 28, 2017, the attendant prepared all cash reports, except for the four
reports prepared in January 2017 by another Department employee. It should be noted that we did not identify
any cash shortages when this employee prepared the cash reports in January 2017.
5 Village officials indicated that the standard procedure is that collections and receipts are locked in a desk at the
end of each day.
Of f ic e of t he New York State Comptroller 3