KINGSTON – A discrimination lawsuit by the Ulster County Finance Commissioner’s former secretary has led to testimony of alleged financial cover-ups by Finance Commissioner Burt Gulnick. The commissioner is being sued by his former secretary, Heather Mikesh.
Mikesh testified that during the pandemic, the Ulster County Payroll Supervisor Wendy Trojak, mistakenly sent a $1 million payment to New York State by mistake, and Gulnick buried the error to prevent other officials, including Ulster County Comptroller March Gallager from discovering the mistake.
The testimony by Mikesh indicated that Gulnick aided the cover-up by moving funds from various other budget lines to make it nearly impossible for the county’s accountants to determine what had occurred.
On Sunday, Comptroller March Gallagher declined to provide additional information to Mid-Hudson News, saying in a statement “It is very disturbing to learn that the Commissioner of Finance and Payroll Manager may have been involved in making a significant mistake while specifically trying to obfuscate that error from my office and possibly other officials.”
The allegations, if true, Gallagher said “Represent serious risks to our internal controls and financial security.”
Gallagher said that her office is investigating the claims put forth by Mikesh and using every resource available to determine the extent of the alleged cover-up.
