Supervisor Requests Riverhead's First State Audit Since 2000

Last week, the day after Supervisor Sean Walter and Councilman John Dunleavy , the supervisor petitioned the Office of the Comptroller to audit Riverhead Town.

The state audit would be the first time the Comptroller's Office audited Riverhead's finances since 2000, Walter said. The request comes after the town heard  - on its 2008, 2009, and 2010 audits - from external auditors Albrecht, Viggiano, Zureck & Company, P.C.

"Way back when, 12 years for the state to come to a municipality for an audit was unheard of," Walter said. "The goal is to create a stable town like Smithtown or Huntington, as far as taxes go."

Walter and Financial Administrator Bill Rothaar plan on meeting with the Comptroller's Long Island office in mid-March, according to a spokeswoman with the office.

The supervisor said that based on a conversation he had with the Comptroller's Office, he expressed skepticism that a complete audit could be completed anytime soon.

"I could be wrong, but it didn't really sound like they had the ability to complete a full audit," he said. "It sounded like they're really under the gun."

A spokeswoman with the Comptroller's Office, Kate Gurnett, said that following Walter and Rothaar's meeting in mid-March, the office will "decide what, if any, services are appropriate. This is not a staffing issue."

Gurnett said that a number of factors are taken into account when determining when the office will audit, "such as the last time that we audited, red flags in the required financial information filed with our office, and information provided by citizens and elected officials."

Rothaar said that as the town works to close the books on 2011, he couldn't consider starting a state audit until at least May 1. He added that he's unsure whether or not a state audit would improve the town's credit rating - though it could, hypothetically, find a mistake in the town's processes to prohibit future mistakes and a potential downgrade.