The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
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Trenton NJ, Assembly Republican Conference Leader Christopher DePhillips is calling on legislative leaders to take tax increases off the table as Democrats discuss hiking the sales tax to fund NJ Transit during the final weeks of state budget negotiations. Instead, DePhillips wants to do a top-to-bottom review of NJ Transit to identify waste and cost-saving measures.
the staff of The Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, on Monday evening, 03/07, Mr. Andrew Parente, a partner in the Fair Lawn based financial auditing firm of Lerch, Vinci & Higgins, LLP, informed BOE members that $729k in BOE funds were spent during the 2021-2022 school year without their required approval (expenditures in excess of the $44k bid threshold require BOE approval via resolution). Breakdown of the “without approval” expenditures was as follows:
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Ridgewod NJ, Coinbase has made an important update on the USD Coin page following an audit. The page previously stated that all of the coin’s reserves were held in cash, but the audit found that USDC’s reserves were not fully backed by US dollars held in a bank account. Coinbase’s USDC page now states that each USDC is backed by one dollar or asset with equivalent fair value. Users can always redeem one USDC for one US dollar. Circle, the company that oversees USDC, recently announced plans to become a full-reserve national digital currency bank in the US.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Upper Saddle River NJ, at the USR September council meeting questions, were raised concerning the annual municipal audit. Municipalities are required to undergo an audit on a yearly basis. Recommendations are made. These audits are very thorough and stringent. Each municipality’s audit must be reviewed, posted on the municipality’s website and sent to the Department of Community Affairs for their review. Our auditing firm, Lerch, Vinci and Higgins have completed the Borough’s 2018 audit. It can be found on www.usrtoday.org.
Continue reading Upper Saddle River Moves to Sure Up Finances
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Trenton NJ, Statement of Attorney General Gurbir Grewal Regarding the State Comptroller’s Audit of EDA Incentive Programs :
“Last week, the Office of the State Comptroller issued an audit report identifying serious deficiencies in the management and administration of certain tax incentive programs run by the Economic Development Authority (EDA). For more than a decade, the Comptroller’s Office has earned a reputation for the rigor and independence of its work, and I want to commend Comptroller Phil Degnan for conducting such a thorough audit.
I found the report’s conclusions deeply troubling – both as a public official and as a taxpayer. New Jersey residents have a right to expect that their government will carefully tailor economic development programs to maximize the general welfare and minimize the use of public funds. The Comptroller’s audit raises serious concerns about whether EDA’s incentive programs fell short of those expectations over the past decade. It also highlighted the lack of robust internal controls at EDA, raising the troubling possibility that EDA may have failed to identify material misrepresentations made by one or more entities at the time the agency approved their tax credits.
I spent a significant portion of my career rooting out financial misconduct as a federal prosecutor in Newark and Brooklyn, and I get very concerned whenever I see a state agency distributing so much money, with so little oversight, over such a long period of time. There are many things we still do not know about the historical details of EDA’s incentive programs, but it’s time to start asking some tough questions. As Attorney General, I intend to figure out what exactly happened and whether any laws were broken. If it turns out that taxpayer dollars were distributed in violation of civil or criminal law, I will use the full powers of my office to seek recovery of those funds and ensure that the proper parties are held accountable. The residents of New Jersey deserve nothing less.”
For the complete 2014 Village of Ridgewood Draft Audit
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BY PAUL BEDARD | APRIL 24, 2015 | 12:29 PM
The financial issues plaguing Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign have become too much even for liberal groups, and now Common Cause is calling for an independent audit of donations to the Clinton Foundation.
Amid suggestions that foreign governments donated to the foundation in hopes of getting special treatment from President Obama’s State Department when Clinton was his top diplomat, the group on Friday said a “thorough review” is needed.
“Six years ago, at Mrs. Clinton’s confirmation hearing for her appointment as secretary of state, then-Sen. Dick Lugar observed that ‘that foreign governments and entities may perceive the Clinton Foundation as a means to gain favor with the secretary of state.’ He was right, and his remarks remain relevant today as Mrs. Clinton seeks the presidency,” said Common Cause President Miles Rapoport.
Too Big To Audit? Large Partnerships Escape IRS Scrutiny, GAO Reports
May 2, 2014 – 1:14 PM
By Barbara Hollingsworth
(CNSNews.com) – In 2011, while the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was busy scrutinizing the tax-exempt status of 100 percent of Tea Party groups and other conservative non-profits, the tax agency did not audit a single high-value electing large partnership (ELP) with more than $100 million in assets.
That’s according to a preliminary report released to Congress by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) April 17th. (See GAO.pdf)
An ELP is a business entity with more than 100 partners and more than $100 million in assets that is required to file a 1065-B tax return every year. They include large private equity firms, hedge funds and oil and gas partnerships.
“No partnerships that filed a Form 1065-B from tax years 2002 to 2011 had their tax return audited and closed by IRS from fiscal years 2007 to 2013,” a footnote on page 14 of the GAO report stated.
Jim White, a spokesman for GAO, confirmed that no ELPs were audited by the IRS between 2007 and 2013, the last year statistics are available. However, he pointed out that there were only 15 ELPs out of 105 filing 1065-B returns nationwide in 2011 that met the $100 million asset threshold.
Another 2,211 partnerships filed under IRS Form 1065 in 2011, “but only 20 audits (or less than one percent) were closed that year,” White told CNSNews.com, acknowledging that “this is a very low audit rate.”
White noted that GAO is doing a follow-up and “will be asking the IRS a number of questions to try to better understand” the tax agency’s audit decisions.
Ridgewood hopes to conduct audit before employee sentenced for half-million quarter theft
APRIL 10, 2014, 5:56 PM LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014, 5:56 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Officials hope to conduct a complete forensic analysis of the village’s financials before the June sentencing of a former employee who recently admitted stealing $460,000 in parking meter quarters.
At the council’s meeting Wednesday night, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld explained that she had met with representatives from the Joint Insurance Fund, which she said would fund the audit.
“We’d like to get this done in the next two weeks,” Sonenfeld said.
An independent review of the method by which the village manages its parking meter revenues will also be undertaken, she added.
That, Sonenfeld said, would be paid for by the village.
The results from both analyses, Sonenfeld noted, could serve to guide village officials as they mull what future actions to take to prevent theft.
Last month, Thomas Rica admitted taking handfuls of quarters out of the parking meter coin storage room in Village Hall.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-hopes-to-conduct-audit-before-employee-sentenced-for-half-million-quarter-theft-1.898724#sthash.fXYnsVao.dpuf