Politics & Government
Cortlandt Addresses State Audit of Gas Card Policy
The State Comptroller's office found that the Town of Cortlandt did not have a formal process in place for monitoring employees' use of gas cards.
The State Comptroller’s office found that the did not have formal policies and procedures in place to monitor the use of about 100 gasoline credit used for about 25 town vehicles. The findings were released in a December 2011 audit report. The town agreed with the Comptroller’s findings and is currently in the process of finalizing policies regarding the credit cards.
“We welcomed the recommendations by the State Comptroller’s Office and immediately began plans to improve our system, which was put in place to correct an outdated informal system from many years ago,” Town Supervisor Linda Puglisi wrote an a statement released Jan. 17.
The Comptroller’s office reviewed Cortlandt’s books from January to April 2011 and determined that the town did not properly govern the use of the gasoline credit cards; that there was no formal process in place for opening and closing accounts on the gas cards; that employees were not required to submit receipts and that no one was monitoring the gas credit cards.
Find out what's happening in Peekskill-Cortlandtfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Comptroller’s report further explained that because procedures were not in place to ensure that diesel fuel inventory was adequately safeguarded and accounted for, there was a risk that fuel could have been used for personal reasons and not only for work.
“As a result, there is limited assurance that the $86,455 in gasoline purchases made by town employees and officials were for proper town purposes,” the comptroller report stated.
Find out what's happening in Peekskill-Cortlandtfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Cortlandt Town Board adopted a resolution in December that directs the Director of Environmental Services and the Town Comptroller to develop and prepare a formal policy with respect to fleet gasoline purchases. The Town also provided the Comptroller’s office with a Corrective Action Plan to address the findings.
The town expects to complete and implement the new program, which would give better information on which employee is using which town vehicle, this February, Puglisi stated.
You can read the full audit by clicking on the PDF attached to this article.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
