Financial discrepancies between $78,000 and $93,000 have been discovered in 2016 and 2017 in the town of Carroll.

On Wednesday, the Carroll Town Board discussed the financial discrepancies while approving to file its 2017 Annual Financial Report Update Document.

Russell Payne, town supervisor, said the town’s bookkeeper, Bahgat & Laurito-Bahgat, who were hired in 2018, told town officials $63,420 is unaccounted for from the Water Department in 2017.

“It’s unaccounted for. We don’t know if it’s missing. It’s a very strange inconsistency,” said Payne, who became town supervisor at the beginning of the year. “We are attempting to find out where it went or what happened. We’re in the process of doing that now.”

Payne said at the start of 2017, the balance for the Water Department was $175,000 and at the end of the year it was around $111,000.

“There was a $63,420 shortfall somewhere,” he said. “In my experience, being former law enforcement, what first comes across my mind was that the money was taken or misappropriated in some fashion. That is what we are trying to do. We’re trying to find out where it went.”

Payne said there is also still financial discrepancies with the town’s swim program from 2016. He said between $15,000 to $30,000 is unaccounted for during that year.

“We are still tracking that down. We still have more investigating to do. We have an idea what happened,” he said. “There is still some internal auditing to be done. Together, that is a substantial amount of money we are talking about. That is a significant hit for the town to take.”

Payne said it has been a difficult situation since he started his term as town supervisor. He said records were missing and unaccounted for when Susan Rowley, town clerk, and himself took over town operations.

“In fact, it should be noted, when the new administration took over in (January) 2020, there was not much of anything on file in the clerks office. Every cupboard, drawer, file had been emptied,” he said. “It was a sorry state how the clerk’s office was left. It was very inappropriate.”

In January, Payne claims someone remotely accessed the clerk’s computer. He said the town’s IT staff disengaged the remote access and set new passwords. He added the state police were notified about the unauthorized use of the clerk’s computer.

“I don’t know if it was sour grapes or what that entailed,” he said about files missing from the clerk’s office, with some being found later in a basement vault.

Payne said the town has been behind in filing its Annual Financial Report Update Documents since 2010. He said during his second term as supervisor, he had previously served from 1998 to 1999, that will not continue.

“I can assure you going forward, that’s not going to happen,” he said.

In other business, the board tabled the decision on whether to host a summer recreation program this year. The board discussed that if Western New York continues to advance through the four phases of reopening, the program could start in July and last through August. However, it is unknown whether they would be allowed by the state to open the restrooms at the park, which is why the proposal was tabled until next month for when more information might be known.

“If we could get a month or two in, that would be nice,” Payne said.