EARLVILLE -- More than year after the Village of Earlville's mayor was arrested on fraud charges, the state comptroller's office has audited the Village, questioning its accounting records.
The former mayor, 36-year-old Toni Campbell, was arrested in July of 2010, accused of stealing from her former employer. She previously served as the finance manage for Chenango Valley Pet Foods in Sherburne and was accused of stealing more than $42,000 worth of money from the company.
This isn't the first time a negative shadow has been cast on Earlville. The current mayor was arrested for DWI last month. Mark Doeberl later resigned.
Auditors found the village does not maintain adequate accounting records. They also say the clerk-treasurer does not use double entry accounting, maintain and reconcile control accounts or use account numbers and titles. The audit also finds spreadsheets used by the clerk-treasurer instead of accounting records do not include descriptions for cash receipts, are not integrated into the accounting system and do not include audit trails.
Auditors say annual financial reports were not filed with the State Comptroller since 2006-2007. Because of this, there's a greater risk of undetected errors or irregularities.
Auditors say the village board did not have policies and procedures in place for collecting real property taxes or water rents, which had revenues of approximately $192,000 and $75,000 during 2009-2010. As a result of internal control weaknesses, auditors say, taxes collected may not be deposited and water revenues may not be billed and collected.
Read the full audit here.
