By ANDY GARDNER

CLIFTON -- Town officials in Clifton say a state comptroller's audit that was critical of the municipality's finances, bookkeeping and highway department doesn't reflect what really was happening at the time and they have since corrected the issues.

"It can all be attributed to the former supervisor (Robert Snider) and the former clerk (Bethany Rathman)," Clifton bookkeeper Carol Ayitissine said. "It's because of a lack of responsibility by the former regime."

The comptroller's report said that Highway Superintendent Kelly Smith was making purchases without the board's approval, but Ayitissine said that was due to poor record keeping on Rathman's part.

"I never bought anything without the board's approval," Smith said. "There's no way the town wouldn't know about it because it gets put in front of the attorney.

"I was able to get the former board members to sign a letter saying I did have board approval."

Smith and Ayitissine said it is now standard procedure under current Town Supervisor Charles Hooven's watch to read all of the meeting minutes aloud during open session before the Town Council votes to approve them.

"It takes 15 minutes sometimes to read the minutes," Smith said.

The comptroller's office also called out Smith for signing lease deals that would cost the town too much money over time, but he says he never left the boundaries of his department's official spending plan.

"I was well within the budget," Smith said.

Part of the audit lambasted the bookkeeper not keeping proper financial records, which led to the books showing that the town was in the black, when in reality they finished the 2012 fiscal year at a $140,000 deficit and the 2012 fiscal year with $325,000 in the red.

This happened, the auditors said, because she made improper interfund transfers.

But Ayitissine says at the time, she was acting under direction from the supervisor and councilors.

"They would say 'pay the bills' and I'd say 'With what?' We have no money. They knew we had no money," she said, adding that she has since received additional training in handling interfund transactions.

To read letters from Clifton officials' written to the state comptroller in response to the audit, click here.