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Board receives 2016 auditors report

AMBROSE CLANCY PHOTO Jeffrey Davoli, a partner with the accounting firm Albrecht, Viggiano, Zurek & Company, gave a report on an audit of the town’s finances for 2016 at Tuesday’s Town Board work session.
AMBROSE CLANCY PHOTO Jeffrey Davoli, a partner with the accounting firm Albrecht, Viggiano, Zurek & Company, gave a report on an audit of the town’s finances for 2016 at Tuesday’s Town Board work session.

The town’s auditors released a report Tuesday at the Town Board work session for 2016.

Jeffrey Davoli, a partner with Hauppauge’s Albrecht, Viggiano, Zurek & Company, began his report by noting that an annual audit doesn’t address the financial health of an organization or municipality, just the accuracy of the numbers presented to the auditor.

The town, Mr. Davoli reported, had $11 million in cash at the end of 2016, with $6.1 million in the Community Preservation Fund, which comes from a 2 percent tax buyers pay when purchasing East End properties, and is used to buy open space for preservation and fund water protection programs.

Capital assets for 2016 were $28.8 million, with total assets of $41.1 million. Total liabilities were $19.3 million. The town’s “net position,” an accounting term that is determined by looking at the difference between assets and liabilities, was $24.3 million for 2016, a 5.7 percent increase over 2015, Mr. Davoli reported.

The town’s unassigned fund balance — “rainy day fund” or “budgetary reserve” — was $1.1 million, which represented 13.5 percent of expenditures. Mr. Davoli noted that the state comptroller’s office “says that generally between 10 and 20 percent” marks a stable municipality.

“Less than 10 percent you may be O.K,” Mr. Davoli added. “But you may be pushing it a little bit. Over 20 percent you might view it as taxing and retaining.”

In other financial business, Supervisor Jim Dougherty said the town had received a franchise payment from Cablevision of $21,670 for the third quarter of 2017. There are 2,084 cable subscribers on the Island, Mr. Dougherty said, and that so far this year the total franchise payment to the town is $78, 909.

The town had budgeted $80,000 from Cablevision for all of 2017, and there are still three months of payments to come, Mr. Dougherty said.