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Town supervisor seeks updated forensic-audit progress report as board debates uncollected taxes
Summary
At the June 16 Town Board meeting, the town supervisor proposed hiring the firm that produced the forensic audit to prepare a progress review of corrective-action plans (covering 2024–2026) and include the engagement in the 2027 budget; fellow board members debated cost, timing and whether corrective actions already underway should be given time to take effect.
The Town Supervisor proposed hiring the same firm that produced the town’s forensic audit to prepare a progress report reviewing corrective-action plans through 2026 and told the board she would seek to include that engagement in the town’s 2027 budget. "If we basically use the same auditor and they say, you know what, these are the problems that the town has going forward, this is what you have to work on," the Supervisor said, arguing an independent update would reassure the public the report is being used as a roadmap rather than for political purposes.
The suggestion came after the Supervisor announced Moody’s had affirmed the town’s AAA bond rating, a development members said should lower borrowing costs. The Supervisor praised the controller’s work and said an independent progress review would “tell us what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong.”
Other board members questioned whether spending an additional $15,000 on an outside update was necessary at this stage. One member said the controller and chief financial officer could track corrective actions and determine whether they were bearing fruit without hiring another consultant. "To spend an additional $15,000 at this juncture is a little ahead of the game," a board member said, urging patience to allow corrective actions time to work.
The exchange also included sharply different assessments of the town’s backlog of uncollected property debt. A board member cited the forensic audit’s earlier finding of about $29 million in uncollected property debt and told the board that figure has grown; the transcript contains a clearly misstated numeric string that appears to be a transcription error (see clarifying details). Board members pointed to recent town actions — including increased tax-collection efforts — as evidence of progress, while others said the issues identified by the forensic audit require an independent recheck to restore public confidence.
No formal vote was taken on hiring an auditor at the meeting. The Supervisor said she would include the proposed engagement in her 2027 budget submission and asked the board to indicate any objections; several members asked staff to track corrective actions so the board could review measurable results before approving new spending.
