Columbus – Auditor of State Dave Yost announced today the launch of a special audit of the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) of Greater Cincinnati.  The special audit comes at the request of Hamilton County and Cincinnati officials in light of recent concerns about MSD’s competitive bidding, contracts and payments.  The Auditor of State’s Special Audit Task Force met today to review the information and determined a special audit is appropriate. 

“I’ve had concerns about the oversight of MSD and instructed audit staff to expand our regular financial audits in recent years,” Auditor Yost said.  “It is obviously time to take a deeper dive.”

A special audit is a defined-scope examination of financial records and other information designed to investigate allegations of fraud, theft or misappropriation of funds – or to quantify the extent of such losses.  

Timeframes for special audit investigations vary greatly depending on the unique circumstances of the scope of the special audit and the nature of the allegations.

As a matter of policy, no additional information will be available while the audit is ongoing.

 ###

The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio, is responsible for auditing more than 5,800 state and local government agencies.  Under the direction of Auditor Dave Yost, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies and promotes transparency in government.

Contact:
Brittany Halpin
Press Secretary
614-644-1111