[Ed. note: The final report is attached to the story here.]

In response to Liam Mayo’s article, “Town of Highland releases final report of town clerk’s office,” some serious issues were underreported, framing the problem as some sort of minor administrative snafu. The report identified the town clerk sharing confidential information, the transfer of a town-sponsored not-for-profit bank account to a private citizen without the town board’s notification or approval, alleged falsified FOIL documents, incomplete transactions, missing cash receipts, no bank reconciliations done for the clerk’s three bank accounts, unfiled permits and unsecured funds totaling $1,144.50 found on the clerk’s desk and elsewhere around town hall. 

Over three years, several months passed with no bank deposits despite funds collected. Most notably, more than $5.3 million was deposited in banks than was recorded in receipts—a serious discrepancy that means some Highland residents either failed to pay or overpaid their taxes and are due refunds. 

The final report indicates that this was not a one-time occurrence—for a three-year period, from 2O22 to 2O24, there was a total difference of just under $5.4 million between all deposits made by the town clerk bank accounts versus transactions logged into various mandated reporting systems. 

What Mr. Mayo failed to explain is why this is extremely concerning. Because of the lack of any receipts entered into the Activity Management System, the auditors were unable to determine where these millions of dollars had actually come from and to which taxpayers these payments should be credited—all complicated by Ms. Hoffman’s absolute refusal to cooperate with the audit, although she was given many opportunities to do so.

It would have been preferable if Mr. Mayo had directed readers to the official Final Report available at the Highland Town Hall for more accurate and reliable information, rather than to Mike McGuire’s (Sue Hoffman’s lawyer) opinion-based podcast on YouTube.

Town Clerk Sue Hoffman has never been accused of theft by anyone, nor is she somehow the victim here, no, but the absolute cause. The actual victims are the taxpayers of the Town of Highland and the town board, who will now have to spend additional resources to clean up the financial repercussions of this god-awful chaotic mess.

Paula Campbell
Town of Highland, NY