An expanded audit of three Hamilton Township departments has come back clean.
An independent municipal auditor found no evidence of illegal activities, misappropriations of government funds or attempts to circumvent the internal financial controls following its in-depth review of the administration, community planning and compliance and health department, recreation, seniors and veterans department..
Mayor Kelly A. Yaede announced in January that Hodulik & Morrison would perform the audit. The firm had remaining consulting hours in its existing contract that covered the expanded audit.
As part of the expanded scope, the auditors used forensic tests and employee interviews to see if any past inappropriate practices took place, looked for differences over the prior three years of departmental expenditures, questioned township employees to see if they were ever influenced to falsify any financial transaction, and identified and reviewed of all new vendors established during 2011 and 2012.
The auditor noted that none of the three former employees made any entries in the system while logged on using their personal passwords, as confirmed by the township’s financial accounting system.
Interviews with employees in the affected departments yielded no reported instances of the former employees or their staff members attempting to circumvent the existing control policies or to conceal fraud or illegal acts.
According to the auditor, township procurement procedures contain several internal controls to ensure that purchasing laws and regulations were followed.
Departments could not make requisitions for other departments, preventing the bypass of internal controls on part of the departments included in the audit.
To ensure proper procedures, the township’s Purchasing Agent examines all requisitions to ensure compliance with the New Jersey Public Contracts Law. The township’s director of finance also reviews the requisitions.
Payments to vendors are not made until the vendor provides evidence of a business registration with the State Department of Treasury and evidence or certification of the receipt of goods or services
The audit found that new vendors were only created by the Purchasing Agent, in response to successful bids, holders of state approved contracts, or other valid business purposes
Yaede said in a statement that she was satisfied with the the results of the audit.
“I am proud of the overwhelming positive results of this expanded financial audit, which proves the fiscal responsibility and strong managerial controls that Hamilton Township employs to protect our hardworking taxpayers,” Yaede said. “This is another example of our internal controls have worked to help produce a 2013 Township Budget that, once again, has no municipal tax increase.”
Following the release of the audit results, mayoral candidate Barbara Plumeri questioned Yaede’s audit.
In a statement, Plumeri said the release was “Yaede’s most recent election year ploy.” The candidate noted that other township departments have yet to be audited. The expanded audit covered departments whose leadership stepped down or were terminated after the Bencivengo scandal.
Additionally, Plumeri said Yaede used the same auditor who served during the Bencivengo.
