The Dutchess County Comptroller’s office on Monday (Sept. 30) released the latest of three audits it has completed this year:
• The Dutchess County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DCSPCA) is an independent, nonprofit agency that receives funding from the county. In an audit of its books for 2023, the comptroller’s office found that the organization had not followed its corporate bylaws in one case in April 2022 when it awarded a contract for construction management and general contracting to a firm owned by a board member without a formal bidding process. The firm was paid $275,785 without a signed contract, but the comptroller found “no explicit evidence of intentional wrongdoing.”
• The comptroller audited the Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office books for 2021 to 2023. In a report released on Sept. 23, it identified a transaction under former D.A. William Grady in which the office gave $5,000 in 2022 to support a youth program from its asset-forfeiture funds. However, the grant did not follow state guidelines that require the money to be distributed “to support public safety initiatives.” It also found that the office under Grady did not have written policies or procedures related to financial administration, including the use of asset forfeiture funds.
• The comptroller audited the books of the nonprofit Dutchess Tourism for 2018-2022. In a report released March 22, it “found minor areas for improvement, but no major discrepancies.” Dutchess Tourism returned $2,120 to the Department of Planning and Development because of a bookkeeping error.
In addition, the New York State comptroller released an audit on Sept. 20 of the Putnam County Golf Course in Mahopac that covered January 2022 through September 2023. It concluded that the course, which is owned by the county, inexplicably did not retain records for June, July and August 2022 and that 30 percent of the pro shop cash did not match daily deposit reports and 97 percent of the daily cash reports were inaccurate in June, July and August 2023.
The comptroller recommended the county adopt a written collections policy and require reconciliations. In response, County Executive Kevin Byrne said the county has addressed the deficiencies.
