When the Erie County Comptroller’s Office began auditing the Clerk’s Office early last year, it found so many issues – including obvious signs of fraud – that it divided its audit into two. The second audit, released Monday, focuses on the Clerk’s Office handling of mortgage taxes and found many more serious problems.
A four-month audit of the Erie County Clerk’s Office has uncovered missing money, altered deposit records, bad fiscal oversight, bank-flagged discrepancies and numerous gun permit overcharges.
That includes thousands of dollars that were not properly distributed, and too much money given to some towns and not enough to others. Money that was supposed to be passed on to other local governments was wrongly lumped in with other county funds, and some tax distribution errors were not caught because the Clerk’s Office did not properly reconcile its bank accounts.
“It is a mess,” said Comptroller Kevin Hardwick. “And at some point in time, someone is going to have to figure out where all this money went, and if, for instance, agencies or towns are owed money or were paid too much, someone is going to have to sort it out.”
The audit also pointed out that a check issued by the Clerk’s Office to a state agency for $326,456 was intercepted, and…
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