NEWS FROM THE OFFICE OF

ULSTER COUNTY COMPTROLLER

ELLIOTT AUERBACH
ELLIOTT AUERBACH COUNTY COMPTROLLER 244 FAIR STREET KINGSTON, NEW YORK 12401 PHONE: 845: 340-3529 eaue@co.ulster,ny.us
www.co.ulster.ny.us/resources/comptroller

DEPARTMENT RETREAT PROMPTS COMPTROLLERS REPORT The City of Kingstons Withdrawal from URGENT Magnifies Programs Weaknesses

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE KINGSTON, NY (September 30, 2012) The Office of the Ulster County Comptroller has completed its Report on the accounts of the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team, known as URGENT. The Report was prompted by the request of the City of Kingston to unwind its relationship with URGENT, a request made a year after its withdrawal from the program. But Ulster Comptroller Elliott Auerbach says it was immediately apparent that the implications of the inquiry would be much broader. The Kingston Police Department (KPD) departure amplified several shortcomings both with the legal construct of the program and the legitimacy and enforcement of its terms and conditions. The program has been in existence since 2007, and has operated under the auspices of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which appears to have never been authorized by the governing bodies of the entities involved, a fact that was first pointed out by the Comptroller to the County Legislature over a year ago during the course of the Tim Matthews fraud investigation. Beyond the fundamental problem that the MOU may never have been enforceable, the Report finds that the parties to the MOU appear not to have followed the MOUs terms in any event. Instead, they seem to have had informal meetings of participating members and decided to put the seized funds back into the program rather than disbursing it. The problem is not with the idea of using seized funds to support the program, but with the fact that that decision is contrary to the MOU, and the program operated without the internal controls necessary to record its decisions, categorize its expenditures, or memorialize its members sign-off on choosing to fund the program rather than distribute the funds, according to Comptroller Auerbach. Kingston, the Report concludes, contributed to the problem. Although Kingston, according to the Sheriff, was a part of the meetings where these decisions were made, they now claim a right to some distribution, and suggest that its contribution to the program was significant enough to entitle it to a considerable share of those proceeds. The problem is that Kingston has also suggested that the MOU was never valid, and even if it was, the MOU doesnt require a proportional share, but an equal share for all members. If theres no MOU, theres no reason to simply presume there would be a distribution. Kingston seems to like the MOU enough to claim a share of the seized funds, says
The mission of the Ulster County Comptrollers Office is to serve as an independent agency of the people and to protect the public interest by monitoring County government and to assess and report on the degree to which its operation is economical, efficient and its financial condition sound.

Auerbach, but they dont like the idea that the seized funds should be shared equally. They cant have it both ways. Kingston also ignores the fact that its personnel undermined the program and cost the County time, money and manpower as a result of the fraud perpetrated by one of its own. There are many other obstacles to a true accounting of the URGENT funds, according to the Report. The problem here, says Auerbach is not with the law enforcement, its with the finances and the recordkeeping. These agencies should be enforcing the law, not drafting contracts and administering hundreds of thousands of dollars. Its not an indictment of their intent; its just a critique of the process, which has to improve. The Final Report will be released and distributed on Monday, October 1, and will be available on the Comptrollers website.

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The mission of the Ulster County Comptrollers Office is to serve as an independent agency of the people and to protect the public interest by monitoring County government and to assess and report on the degree to which its operation is economical, efficient and its financial condition sound.