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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020 Justice Court AuditTOWN OF ITHACA AGREED UPON PROCEDURES YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020 SCIARABBA WALKERS° ' CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS BUSINESS CONSULTANTS INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANT'S REPORT ON APPLYING AGREED -UPON PROCEDURES The Town of Ithaca and Office of State Comptroller Bureau of Justice Court Fund We have performed the procedures enumerated below on the accounting records of the Town Justices of the Town of Ithaca for the year ended December 31, 2020. The Town Justices of the Town of Ithaca's management is responsible for the Town Justices' accounting records. Town of Ithaca has agreed to and acknowledged that the procedures performed are appropriate to meet the intended purpose. This report may not be suitable for any other purpose. The procedures performed may not address all the items of interest to a user of this report and may not meet the needs of all users of this report and, as such, users are responsible for determining whether the procedures performed are appropriate for their purposes. Our procedures and findings are summarized on the attached pages. Also attached is a Summary of Town Court Activity for the Town Justices. We were engaged by Town of Ithaca to perform this agreed -upon procedures engagement and conducted our engagement in accordance with attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. We were not engaged to and did not conduct an examination or review engagement, the objective of which would be the expression of an opinion or conclusion, respectively, on the accounting records of the Town Justices of the Town of Ithaca. Accordingly, we do not express such an opinion or conclusion. Had we performed additional procedures, other matters might have come to our attention that would have been reported to you. We are required to be independent of the Town Justices of the Town of Ithaca and to meet our other ethical responsibilities, in accordance with the relevant ethical requirements related to our agreed -upon procedures engagement. This report is intended solely for the information and use of the Town of Ithaca and Office of State Comptroller and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than those specified parties. Z"A- 1, 4 , � C. --(40 Sciarabba Walker & Co., LLP Ithaca, New York February 4, 2021 410 East Upland Road Ithaca, New York 14850 ' 607-272-5550 / 607-273-6357(Fax) www.swcllp.com TOWN OF ITHACA AGREED UPON PROCEDURES PROCEDURES: 1. Perform process narratives and walkthroughs for cash receipts and cash disbursements to trace and agree amounts, dates, payer, and violation (if applicable) relating to the Bail account and the Regular Fine accounts: a. Cash Receipts — Follow the ticket (receipt) or bail through the entire process from the docket and credit card receipt (if applicable) being created to the monthly report and the bank statement with the cancelled checks (if applicable) and deposits attached to the monthly summary report. b. Cash Disbursements — Follow the monthly payment to the Town of Ithaca Chief Fiscal Officer for the disbursement to the NYS Comptroller (or the returned bail back to the defendant) to the bank statement with cancelled checks. 2. From random scanning, note the monthly receipt summaries to be in numeric and date order with no missing receipts (check beginning and ending is sequential, , 4 monthly summaries reviewed). 3. Review any deleted or voided transactions in the monthly receipt summaries for reasonableness (reviewed 4 months). 4. Review summary sheets with attached deposits to assure timely filing is within 3 business day parameter (reviewed 6 summaries). 5. For every month, agree checkbook balances to bail account and regular fine account bank statements and trace any year-end outstanding checks/deposits to the checkbook, receipt journals, and January 2021 bank statement. 6. Verify copies of cancelled checks and deposits are kept with bank statements and that cancelled checks are signed (reviewed 3 months). 7. Verify pre -numbered checks are used for the monthly check remitted to the Town of Ithaca (reviewed 3 months). 8. Review the Current Bail Defendant's report for 5 months that included bail to assure a list of bail is maintained and trace amounts over $1,000 to case files noting proper documentation and receipts are in place. 9. Trace and agree the monthly report issued to the NYS Comptroller, the invoice received from the NYS Comptroller, and the check issued to the Town of Ithaca Chief Fiscal Officer (reviewed 6 months). 10. Review the submission date of the monthly report to the NYS Comptroller. The report is due by the 1 Oth of the following month (reviewed 6 months). -2- JUSTICE KLEIN FINDINGS: All agreed upon procedures listed on page 2 were performed for Justice Klein. The following findings are associated with those procedures: 1. No walkthrough was performed of a cash receipt relating to the Bail account. There was only one case where bail was received during the period and it was sealed. 2. No walkthrough was performed of a cash disbursement relating to the Bail account. There were only two cases where bail was returned to the defendant during the period and they were both sealed. 3. Only two months of voided transactions were reviewed for reasonableness, due to only two months having voided transactions. 4. No testing was performed to trace year-end outstanding checks to the January 2021 bank statement, as there were no outstanding checks as of year-end. 5. No testing was performed to trace bail over $1,000 to case files due to there being no bail over $1,000 during the period. JUSTICE SALK FINDINGS: All agreed upon procedures listed on page 2 were performed for Justice Salk. The following findings are associated with those procedures: 1. No walkthrough was performed of a cash receipt relating to the Bail account, due to no bail being received during the period. 2. No testing was performed of voided transactions as there were no voided transactions for the period. 3. No testing was performed to trace year-end outstanding checks to the January 2021 bank statement, as there were no outstanding checks as of year-end. 4. No testing was performed to trace bail over $1,000 to case files due to there being no bail over $1,000 during the period. -3- TOWN OF ITHACA SUMMARY OF TOWN COURT ACTIVITY CASES: Number of cases closed Number of cases open Arraignment for other courts Charges transferred to county court TOTAL CASES FINES AND FEES: Criminal, motor vehicle Surcharges Civil Bail poundage ITHACA TOWN COURT COLLECTIONS BAIL RECEIVED CASH BALANCES: Regular Bail TOTAL CASH AGGREGATE NEW YORK STATE JUSTICE COURT REMITTANCE Justice Justice Klein Salk 1,026 936 900 840 8 4 9 8 1,943 13,788 $ 321469 $ 321421 299694 35,904 7,385 75385 6 30 $ 693,554 $ 75,740 $ 200 $ - 59528 61416 $ 51,528 $ 6,416 $ 145,294 -4-