Audit: Mattituck Park District finances need work

The Mattituck Park District should tighten up its credit card policies and segregate financial duties of the treasurer and the clerk, according to a municipal audit by the state comptroller’s office.

The park district, which is an independent taxing district, serves 4,500 residents in Mattituck and Laurel and oversees 10 parcels of park land and recreational areas, according to Mattituck Parks District chairman Nicholas Deegan.

It had a $568,680 budget in 2011.

The audit, which looked at financial information from Jan. 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, found that the district “did not have adequate internal controls over the use of credit and purchase cards,” and did not keep a list of employees who used the district’s gas credit cards. Because of this, the district paid $910 in gasoline taxes that it was exempt from paying, according to the audit.

The district has since come up with a credit card policy, Deegan said, and is actively working to get refunds of the tax money.

It also eliminated gas credit cards for commissioners, based on the fact that the district is only 3.2 square miles, Deegan said. There are now six gasoline credit cards, Deegan said — four for maintenance vehicles and two assigned for gas can fill-ups for motorized machines such as lawn mowers.

The district was also reminded by the audit to have a system in place segregating financial duties of certain employees, such as clerks and the treasurer. Deegan said the district commissioners now hold “financial work sessions” each month to go over all invoices and checks in a more uniform and formal way.

Above: Mattituck Inlet