Monroe Auditor Clarifies Tax‑Levy Error, Board Supports NY MELT Act

Szot assured the board and public that no illegal acts or fraud were identified during the 2024 audit." Melissa Szot, identified as a partner of O’Connor Davies for the town of Monroe audit, delivered that assurance as PKF O’Connor Davies presented its audit of the 2024 town budget and a preliminary analysis of 2025 at the Monroe Town Board meeting on Monday, March 2, 2026.

Szot attended the meeting to help explain to residents what has been discussed with the 2025 budget in regards to a tax levy issue, the presentation materials indicated. The firm’s review, as summarized at the meeting, focused on budget assumptions feeding into the 2026–27 fiscal cycle and on reconciling the town’s 2025 reporting around the tax levy.

Meeting coverage included a clipped line that reads "Negative number wrongly inputted into reported tax levy", but that phrasing appears only as an isolated fragment in meeting material and has not been corroborated by the audit presentation slides or by board discussion summaries provided to reporters. Town officials and PKF O’Connor Davies have not produced a public correction notice or detailed tax‑levy change log in the materials available so far.

The auditor’s appearance came amid routine municipal budget planning that will inform next year’s levy and spending decisions. Board action at the same meeting included passage of a resolution in support of the NY MELT Act; the motion and vote were recorded on the March 2 agenda, though the full resolution text and vote tally have not yet been circulated with the town’s meeting packet made public.

Tags associated with the meeting’s coverage identify Councilwoman Mary Bingham and Town Supervisor Maureen Richardson as participants of interest, but neither official’s remarks on the audit or on the tax‑levy question are captured in the public excerpts available to this reporter.

Visuals accompanying initial reports included a Pixabay photo tied to meeting coverage. To clarify the record and any numerical adjustments to the town’s tax levy, town officials and the audit firm have been asked for documents the board discussed: the full PKF O’Connor Davies 2024 audit report, the preliminary 2025 analysis, the March 2 presentation slides, the March 2 meeting minutes or video recording, any errata or correction notices related to tax‑levy reporting, correspondence between the town and PKF O’Connor Davies, and the text and vote record of the NY MELT Act resolution. Comment has been requested from Town Supervisor Maureen Richardson and Councilwoman Mary Bingham to confirm whether and how the tax‑levy item affected budget assumptions for 2026–27.