Numerous pieces of equipment that the Town of Boston owned at some point in time cannot be traced. A new report issued by the Erie County Comptroller puts a hefty price tag on that unaccounted equipment.
At the request of the Town of Boston, the Comptoller's Office began a review earlier this year of the municipalities spending and inventory. It found that, dating back to the late 1970s, several big-ticket items came and went, but there are no records indicating what happened to those items.
They include dump trucks, snow plows, pickup trucks, excavators, lawn mowers, a wood chipper, computers and other office machines and furniture.
The value of the combined unaccounted items is estimated at $1.5 million. Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw says to put this in perspective, the town's 2017 budget was just under $4.9 million.
"When it comes to fixed assets and purchasing in the Town of Boston, we found there were specific policies about purchases made between $1,500 and $5,000. But we could not find a written policy of how to purchase anything, any equipment, between $5,000 and $10,000 within the Town of Boston," Mychajliw said.
The comptroller says while it's possible some of the items may have been stolen, he chalks this significant accounting discrepancy to "sloppy bookkeeping." His report cites examples such as employees not using the proper purchase request forms to record when items were bought. They were also failing to fill out disposal forms to report when the town was ridding itself of pieces of equipment.
Boston Town Supervisor Keding, who requested the review, agreed and explained that he had not been in contact with the Erie County Sheriff's Office because there was no solid evidence to suggest thefts.
Keding, who took office earlier this year, vowed the town will immediately tighten its accounting practices.
"Going forward, we will plan on monitoring this much more closely than what it was historically, at least from what we're finding," he said. "My intent is that once all of these policies and procedures have been adopted, which will bring us in compliance with general municipal law and other regulations that govern local government, we'll be able to roll this out to our staff, sit down with all staff members, to ensure compliance and adherence."
The Comptroller's report may be reviewed here.
"These are tax dollars. This equipment belongs to the people of Boston and, because of the fact we share sales tax revenue with the Town of Boston, this equipment does belong to Erie County taxpayers as well," Mychajliw said.
