Whitestown Bought $203,190 of Fuel. It Can Account for $30,602.
Summary
The Town of Whitestown's highway department could not account for $172,588 -- 85 percent -- of the diesel, gasoline and motor oil it bought over 22 months, the New York State Comptroller found in an audit released June 26. The gap is a records gap, not a proven theft: for every gallon of diesel an employee wrote down, 3.7 more went unrecorded, and gasoline and motor oil had no usage records at all. The pump gauge was broken, the fuel-card system was dead for lack of repair money, the gate stayed unlocked, and the elected highway superintendent told auditors he never reviewed the one log his department kept. The town board does not object to any of it.
The receipt, line by line
Auditors reviewed all 94 fuel and motor oil invoices the town paid over those 22 months⧉ and compared them to whatever usage records existed. For gasoline ($39,225) and motor oil ($18,516), that comparison was short: no usage or inventory records were maintained for any of it⧉, so every dollar counts as unaccounted for. Diesel had a log -- the department's only usage record -- and it covered 11,709 of the 55,040 gallons purchased, 21 percent⧉, leaving $114,847 of diesel untraced against $30,602 documented.
View data as table
| Diesel — unaccounted for | 114,847 | 43,331 of 55,040 gallons purchased never appeared in the usage log |
|---|---|---|
| Gasoline — unaccounted for | 39,225 | No usage or inventory records existed for any gasoline at all; the pump gauge was broken |
| Motor oil — unaccounted for | 18,516 | No usage or inventory records existed for any motor oil; stored in unsecured drums in the mechanic's bay |
| Diesel — documented in the log | 30,602 | The only accounted-for fuel money in the audit: 11,709 logged gallons |
A log covering a fifth of the diesel, reviewed by no one
The diesel log recorded the date, the gallons pumped, and the vehicle -- but not the employee's name or the time of day⧉. And the elected official responsible for it, Highway Superintendent Salvatore Granato, told auditors he did not review the log to monitor usage⧉. The audit notes that had he reviewed it periodically, "he might have noticed that employees were not consistently updating the log." No perpetual inventory records existed for any of the three products⧉, so nothing was ever reconciled against what was physically in the town's 2,500-gallon diesel and 2,000-gallon gasoline tanks.
View data as table
| Purchased but never logged | 43,331 | No date, vehicle, or employee recorded for these gallons |
|---|---|---|
| Recorded in the usage log | 11,709 | 21% of purchases; the log omitted employee names and times, and the Superintendent told auditors he never reviewed it |
The controls, itemized: broken, dead, unlocked
The physical safeguards fared no better than the paperwork. The gasoline pump's gauge was broken⧉ and did not show gallons dispensed. The tanks' electronic fuel-card access system was no longer operational -- the Superintendent said for lack of budgetary funds to repair it⧉ -- leaving, in the audit's words, "no physical controls to prevent unauthorized individuals from using the pumps." Pumps were not turned off and the gate around the tanks was not locked⧉ when the garage sat unattended, and motor oil sat in unsecured bulk drums in the mechanic's bay, "for ease of access."⧉ The one working safeguard was a security camera on the pumps⧉.
The audit's conclusion from that inventory of absences: "there was a significant risk that fuel and motor oil could be stolen or misused without detection."⧉ Risk, not finding -- the auditors did not establish that fuel was stolen, only that if it had been, no record would show it.
An elected superintendent, a board that does not object
Granato is not a town hire; as Town Supervisor Shaun J. Kaleta noted, he is an independently elected official⧉, which means the board can press him but not direct him. Kaleta's written statement, reported by the Rome Sentinel⧉, put it this way: "While the audit did not uncover theft, the lack of basic procedures to properly monitor inventory usage and levels is totally unacceptable and very concerning."
The report issues six recommendations⧉ -- five to the Superintendent (fix the gauge, keep real usage records, review them, keep and reconcile perpetual inventory records, lock the gate and shut off the pumps) and one to the Superintendent and board jointly (consider repairing the fuel-card system). In its June 15 written response⧉, the board "does not object to any of the draft audit report's findings and recommendations" and committed to filing a corrective action plan with the Comptroller within 90 days, as Section 35 of the General Municipal Law requires⧉. The Comptroller encourages the board to make that plan available for public review in the Town Clerk's office.
- Whitestown spent $203,190 on diesel, gasoline and motor oil over 22 months and can document the use of $30,602 -- 85 cents of every fuel dollar has no usage record behind it.
- The only record kept, a diesel log, covered 11,709 of 55,040 gallons purchased; it omitted employee names and times, and the superintendent told auditors he never reviewed it. Gasoline and motor oil had no records at all.
- Every control except a security camera was down at once: broken pump gauge, dead fuel-card system (unrepaired for lack of budget), unlocked gate, pumps left on, unsecured oil drums in the mechanic's bay -- leaving what the audit calls significant risk of theft or misuse going undetected.
- The superintendent is independently elected, per the town supervisor's statement; the board accepted every finding, says it will work with him on compliance, and owes the Comptroller a corrective action plan within 90 days under General Municipal Law Section 35.
The $172,588 is unaccounted-for spending, not established loss: the audit attributes the gap to usage records that were missing, incomplete, or unreliable, and the town supervisor states the audit "did not uncover theft." What the audit found is that if fuel had been stolen or misused during the period, the town's records could not have detected it.
Sources(2) ▾
- Office of the New York State Comptroller, Division of Local Government and School Accountability, Town of Whitestown - Inventories (Audit Report 2026M-38) (2026-06-26) — The primary document: the New York State Comptroller's performance audit of the Town of Whitestown's fuel and motor oil inventories, conducted under Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and Article 3 of the General Municipal Law. Source for every dollar figure, gallon count, control failure, recommendation, and the Town Board's written response in this piece. osc.ny.gov · original document
- Rome Sentinel, Whitestown Highway Dept. unable to account for 85% of fuel purchases (2026-06-26) — Local newspaper coverage of the audit's release, used for two facts the audit report itself does not state: Town Supervisor Shaun J. Kaleta's full written statement reacting to the findings, and his statement's identification of Highway Superintendent Salvatore Granato as an independently elected official. romesentinel.com · original document
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The Town of Whitestown, in Oneida County, New York, bought $203,190 of diesel fuel, gasoline and motor oil between January 1, 2024 and October 31, 2025⧉. A New York State Comptroller audit⧉, released June 26⧉, could trace what happened to $30,602 of it. The remaining $172,588 -- 85 percent -- could not be accounted for⧉ "because usage records were either not maintained or were incomplete and unreliable."