No material weaknesses or deficiencies in East Hampton Town’s internal controls were identified in the fiscal year 2022, officials of Nawrocki Smith, which performs an annual audit of the town’s finances, said on Tuesday.
“We had no current-year findings or recommendations or suggestions relating to any way in which the town can operate in a better fashion,” nor any outstanding prior-year recommendations, David Tellier of Nawrocki Smith told the town board. “So again, another really positive thing to say about the town and the Finance Department.”
Mr. Tellier and Craig Hauser, who presented their findings via video conference, assisted the town in preparation of its annual financial report. Field work began on April 24 and concluded on May 26. Financial statements were reviewed with Rebecca Hansen, the town’s budget officer, last month. Cooperation was excellent, Mr. Hauser said.
The town had total assets, as well as deferred outflows of resources, of $934.1 million, “of which substantially sits your capital assets, net of depreciation totaling just under $687 million,” Mr. Tellier said. This primarily consists of land held for conservation and other town-owned land, he said.
The town’s total liabilities and deferred inflows of resources amounted to $343.5 million, comprising in part bonds payable totaling $80.2 million at the end of the fiscal year, of which $12.5 million will be repaid this year.
“The largest liability on the books is the other post-employment benefit obligation,” Mr. Tellier said. This relates to benefits to retired town employees, and totals $117 million. This leaves the town with a net position of $590.6 million.
Assets of all funds total $204.6 million, which primarily relates to cash on hand, said the auditor. Total liabilities are $34.9 million, half of which relates to a bond anticipation note.
Revenues and other financing sources totaled $176.7 million, with property tax revenue totaling $62.3 million. Total expenditures were $170.9 million. Debt service expenses were $15.5 million, or 9.4 percent of total expenditures.
“The results of truth-testing our financial accounting and reporting is that there’s no material weakness or significant deficiencies, internal controls are in place and working well, and the current findings and previous year’s findings recommendations are that everything’s really in good shape,” Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc summarized after the presentation. “That’s really a tribute to Rebecca Hansen, our budget director,” and the Finance Department “running a tight ship over there and keeping us in good stead. I’m really pleased to see this very clean report.”
