GREIG — The Greig town clerk cited in a recent audit has been charged for allegedly diverting more than $17,000 in town funds to cover a shortfall.

State police investigators on Wednesday charged Clerk/Collector Karin Fayle, 65, Greig Road, with official misconduct, a Class A misdemeanor, following completion of a probe conducted in conjunction with the state comptroller’s office. She is to appear in Greig Town Court.

Mrs. Fayle was accused of, on July 15, 2011, diverting a $17,364.63 check intended for the Black River Watershed Initiative to cover a known shortage in the town’s property tax account.

State comptroller’s officials, in an audit report released in August, determined that the money shift was intended to cover a $16,007 shortage in the town’s tax collection account.

When questioned about the discrepancy by auditors in September 2011, Mrs. Fayle acknowledged the shortage and later reimbursed the town with personal funds for the full amount, the audit report states. The clerk told state officials that the apparent shortfall was probably the result of a combination of factors such as cash errors, incorrect change, misplaced money and payments posted in the computer system without actually being paid, it states.

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