Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Comptroller finds Lake Placid government handing out taxpayers’ money...

Here's a report filed by Jon Alexander a few minutes ago:

French King Louis XIV built the gold and jewel-laden palace at Versailles, the Roman Emperor Caligula named himself a god and Lake Placid Village officials apparently get grossly overpaid for work they never did.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli blasted Lake Placid Village government Wednesday following the completion of an audit that found village employees were paid over $111,000 for unapproved leave accruals. One town officials received lumps of cash for leave time that was never even earned.


In a verbal smack-down of Lake Placid government, DiNapoli said the village board was guilty of brash negligence when it dolled out over $93,000 in unearned leave accrual payments between August, 2008 and October, 2009.

“Lake Placid has to get its fiscal house in order and fast,” DiNapoli said. “Local governments must be more vigilant than ever in exercising their financial responsibilities to protect taxpayer resources from abuse and errors.”

The audit found Village Clerk Kathryn McKillip received a whopping $38,000 in unauthorized leave accrual payments over the 14 month period, including $22,774 which she never actually earned.

DiNapoli also found the village paid seven department heads over $40,000 in unauthorized leave payments.

The audit states Lake Placid spent about $18,000 on dental and health insurance for employees who are no longer eligible.

DiNapoli is calling for a segregation of the village’s payroll duties and increased oversight from the village board.

Calls to Lake Placid Mayor Craig Randall went unreturned Wednesday.

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