At the request of Herkimer Village Mayor Dana Sherry, the New York State Comptroller conducted an audit of the village finances. The report is now out and the link shared by Mayor Sherry via the Village Facebook. I’ve published it below. It could have been worse. It was a chaotic nightmare rife for fraud.
At a Village Board meeting in March 2023, Mayor Sherry presented several whiteboards detailing some of what she’d unearthed about the village finances she’d inherited from the previous mayoral administration. A few folks at the meeting were irate and refused to believe what they were being shown. Mayor Sherry then wisely requested the assistance of the state Comptroller to untangle the mare’s nest she’d inherited.
The good news? No money was missing. The bad news? The records were a jumbled mess. Working with the state auditors, Mayor Shelly and retired clerk-treasurer Amanda Visconi were able to reconcile several years of botched books, from June 1 2022 to October 1 2024. The work continues. (We’re fortunate Ms. Viscomi was available and willing to help.)
Report Overview
The current and former Clerk-Treasurers did not maintain complete, accurate or up-to-date financial records and reports As a result, the Village Board (Board) lacked the financial information necessary to properly monitor and manage Village finances.
Herkimer’s facing many ongoing challenges, the most pressing of which is the need to demolish dilapidated, dangerous, structurally unsound buildings on North Main Street. It’s hard to deal with a crisis if you don’t know how much money you have on hand.
Here’s the full report. Following it is a link to an interview of Mayor Sherry and Ms. Viscomi on WUTQ’s Talk of the Town. (We’re fortunate Ms. Viscomi was available and willing to help.)
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