Who will watch the watchmen? Charles Distuhl will.
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Charles Distuhl (rhymes with pistol) has been appointed director of internal audit and control in the office of Ulster County comptroller March Gallagher.
Advertised on the county website, the position oversees the department’s senior auditors. It comes with an annual salary of $90,850 and county benefits.
Most recently employed with Waschitz and Pavloff, a private tax and accounting firm in Monticello, Distuhl has a passion for internal auditing within the public sector, and brings municipal audit experience to the office, Gallagher said. “He really has a great mind for internal controls, because he’s been making recommendations to government entities as an external auditor. It’s really going to help us, I feel, in just doing a better job of what we should be doing anyway.”
Distuhl began his career conducting internal audits of local school districts and providing tax compliance and consulting services to a wide range of local businesses.
While the hiring was not directly related to the intrigue surrounding the resignation of county commissioner of finance Burt Gulnick, the timing is fortuitous in light of the extra workload now facing the department in auditing county operations.
“We are bringing him on at a time where his expertise is vital to our ongoing work to identify any potential fraud or theft from Ulster County taxpayers,” said Gallagher.
Gulnick has so far not been accused of any wrongdoing at the county office. Shortly before he resigned his county position, Gulnick was relieved of his duties as treasurer of a recreation association in the Town of Hurley over allegations he embezzled funds there.
Gallagher said her department published four audits last year. With Distuhl on the job, she anticipates being able to as much as double that number.
“That position years ago,” noted Gallagher, “was filled by Alicia DeMarco, the current deputy comptroller.” Soon after being hired to the job in 2016, DeMarco started asking questions that the recently resigned commissioner of finance didn’t want answered, according to Gallagher.
“So Gulnick wrote DeMarco’s position out of the budget,” recalled Gallagher. “The position was restored by the legislature before the budget was adopted, but you can imagine the stress and consternation that was caused.”
Comptroller Gallagher had hired Sam Sonenberg, an Albany-based auditor from the state Lottery Commission, to fill the position in 2022, but the commute made Sonenberg rethink the job. And the compensation.
Prior to the 2023 budget, the position was budgeted at a rate below the staff it supervised.
“It just was a matter of compression,” explained Gallagher, “It was a management position under county executive [Mike] Hein and never got any raises, while the union positions had negotiated raises. Eventually, the senior auditors were making more per hour than the director, which made it an extremely uncompetitive position to fill.”
The legislature responded to the comptroller’s budget request this year to increase the salary.
The addition of Distuhl will make a difference. “It’s very exciting coming into work,” said Gallagher. “There’s a long list of financial things I want to look at every day, and when I close my eyes at night I literally see journal entries in spreadsheet form just looming by my face.”
Join the family! 
