Debora Gilbert's story in The Columbia Paper about the Dec. 28 year-end Taghkanic town board meeting where Supervisor Betty Young revealed she's asked for a risk assessment review from the state Department of Audit and Control is fascinating for its details. How did the audit come out: "Young disclosed the audit in response to a reporter's question at the Town Board's end-of-year end meeting Tuesday night, December 28, just as the board was preparing to adjourn to an executive session," Gilbert writes. She says the town began, but did not finish, the required year-end audit, which she says will continue at tonight's town board meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

Gilbert notes Taghkanic officials recently revealed a discrepancy between the Highway Department and Town Board about finances. Gilbert hints that the meeting was divisive: "During the internal audit process conducted on Tuesday night of records kept by the town tax collector, town clerk and two justice courts, those in attendance could watch the Town Board scrutinize documents but could not hear comments made by officials or otherwise follow the process. Ms. Thompson had circulated a guide and questionnaire provided by the state comptroller's office and suggested that town board members use it to give the process more structure, but she got no cooperation from her colleagues on the board. The only other Democrat on the board, Larry Kaddish, was absent Tuesday due to the illness of a family member." Then Gilbert writes, "Town attorney Robert Fitzsimmons, who is paid $150 per hour for travel, attendance at meetings and legal work, sat motionless through the whole hour-long process after delivering a brief report on a new dog licensing law, which requires every who owns a dog to buy a license for the animal costing $10 to $18 dollars each." After the board finished perusing the town financial records, a budget amendment was passed that allowed $1,943 to be taken from the contingency fund to cover $1,447 worth of recent bills, Gilbert reports. The board also authorized a $12,600 payment to the local rescue squad and voted to retain the Fingar Insurance agency and its current bookkeeper, Brian Fitzgerald. Read the story in The Columbia Paper.