SILVER LAKE - Silver Lake Town Clerk Angie Glass made a statement about a May 12 newspaper article at the end of the town council meeting Tuesday evening.

"There is no money missing," Glass said. "There has never been any money missing.

"Our accounts were balanced on paper, but not on the computer. But the state can't take handwritten records."

An article in the May 12 edition of the Times-Union, written by Teresa Smith, said, "More than $25,000 is missing from Silver Lakes coffers, according to a State Board of Accounts audit for 2004. The state's audit also found that financial records were inaccurate and incomplete; that one month's balances did not agree with the next month's balances; and that many receipts and disbursement records did not exist."

Tuesday, Glass explained that computer problems were the main cause of the discrepancies in the reports.

Last summer, the computer used for the town's accounts had to be replaced when the old computer malfunctioned. The records from the old computer could not be retrieved, so more than six months of information had to be re-entered into the new machine.

In the process of re-entering information, some numbers were repeated and some were inadvertently left off.

"There was never any money missing," said Glass.

"If money money was missing, she would be in jail the next day," said Silver Lake Town Councilman Stanley Williams.

"I was not contacted or asked for any comments from the newspaper," said Glass.

"No one from the paper contacted us (council members) for a comment, either," said Williams. [[In-content Ad]]