Audit: Nyack Taxpayers Spent $216,026 on Non-Local Campers

Taxpayers in Nyack paid $216,026 for non-residents to use the Nyack Center's summer camp program between 2008 and 2011, according to an audit by the Office of the New York State Comptroller.

The Nyack Center—a non-profit that serves local families, many of them needy—holds an annual, six-week camp for Nyack children. The audit, which was released this past Wednesday, says several residents from South Nyack, Orangetown and Clarkstown attended the camp on Nyack taxpayers' dime.

"In addition, the Center failed to maintain separate accounting records for the various sources of revenue used to finance its programs," the audit document continues.

The Comptroller's research stretched from June 1, 2010 to July 31, 2011, and studied fiscal documents from 2008 and 2009, as well

(The full audit can be found in the adjacent photo gallery.)

Nyack Center officials were contractually obligated to to hold on to the money spent on non-local campers and put it toward the next year's expenses.

"It was an oversight, and we’re going to be tracking where people live in a different way [going forward]," explained Kim Cross, the Nyack Center's executive director, Thursday afternoon. Cross had just returned from a meeting with village officials.

"We have been meeting with and working on changing our processes since June [2011]," she continued.

Cross added that for the non-local campers from nearby towns and villages—many of whom are in the Nyack School District—there are hardly any similar options. Places like Valley Cottage and South Nyack do not have community centers.

"Nyack Center is the closest thing, and it’s a subsidized camp," she said. "It's a very inexpensive option, and most of the families the Nyack Center serve are from low-income households."

Going forward, Cross said she hopes to find ways to allocate other resources that would allow needy, nearby children to continue using the subsidized summer camp without Nyack taxpayers' funds.

The audit also holds Nyack officials responsible for not properly monitoring the Nyack Center's activities.

"The funding provided by the village to the Nyack Center was based upon village resident enrollment figures provided by the Nyack Center," said mayor Jen Laird-White in a Wednesday night press release.

On Thursday, Laird-White noted Cross and village officials had been working to better the Center's oversight since summer of 2011. Laird-White has also been in talks with South Nyack, Orangetown and Clarkstown officials—mayor Patricia DuBow and supervisors Andy Stewart and Alex Gromack, respectively—about non-local children attending the camp.

"We've said to all of them that Nyack is not going to be able to provide the safety net for their kids [anymore]," she noted.

According to a contract between the village and the Nyack Center, the camp is set to serve around 90 local campers each year, and costs taxpayers about $163,000 annually. Between 2008 and 2011, the camp saw between 95 to 137 campers yearly—but sometimes close to 50 percent were not from Nyack. (See the table below for a closer look.)

If Nyack Center officials had followed the guidelines of the village's contract, those 197 non-resident campers, over the course of four years, would not have been paid for by Nyack taxpayers, saving local homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"Because the Center did not retain village moneys not used for village-resident campers and apply it toward the following contract year between 2008 and 2011, the village contributed $216,026 more than was necessary to fund camp operations at taxpayers’ expense," the audit states. (See the table below for a closer look.)

(*Calculated as $1,814 per camper; $163,300 annual payment ÷ 90 Village campers = $1,814.)

(**Calculated as $163,300 annual payment by village for 90 village campers minus the cost for the actual number of village campers participating per year.)

State officials offered recommendations to the Nyack Center and village officials, as well.

"The village should require the Center to maintain accurate and complete accounting records that provide a description for the use of village funds for core and summer camp programs and maintain enrollment data that verifies village residency," the audit reads. "Village officials should ensure that the Center provides this documentation to the treasurer for review.

Further, it suggests the village require the Nyack Center to create a segregated bank account for certain funds, and ensure a "fully executed contract is in place" between the two entities.

"The Village of Nyack accepts the conclusions and recommendations included in the State Comptrollers report," Laird-White wrote in response. "In an effort to improve operations and governance the Village of Nyack recognizes the recommendations and will carry out any actions contained in the report."