BERNE — The town of Berne is late in paying $5,246.47 to software company Tyler Tech, a collection specialist for that company confirmed for The Enterprise this week.

The amount is the sum of two invoices issued on Nov. 30 last year that were due on Dec. 31 — one for $1,365.63 and the other for $3,880.84. The larger invoice is for services related to fiscal softwares, including for payroll and accounting, while the other is for a service described as “annual payroll tax table update.”

Tyler Tech Public Affairs Manager Karen Shields declined to answer further questions from The Enterprise, including whether the town had been in contact about the late payments. 

Supervisor Dennis Palow and town Clerk Kristin de Oliveira did not respond to inquiry. The town board last met on Dec. 19.

This is not the first time the town has been found to be late paying bills. 

In October 2022, The Enterprise reported that the town had repeatedly left National Grid invoices unpaid or didn’t pay the full balance over a nearly two-year period, with the company threatening to disconnect service at Switzkill Farm due to the non-payments, in at least one instance.

 Palow later denied that this was true but did not provide any evidence. 

The town’s finances have been under scrutiny for many years — besides late bills, the town’s GOP administrations have been found to spend freely on mostly-fruitless investigations into political rivals, while also catching flak from the state comptroller’s office for fiscal mismanagement (and then failing to implement the office’s recommendations) — but now residents are feeling the squeeze as they receive the year’s property tax bills and see the seven-fold rate increase.