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Taylor Releases Perry County Audit

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Perry County -

Auditor of State Mary Taylor today released the audit of Perry County for calendar year 2006. The audit indicates that policies and procedures established to manage payroll related issues were not properly followed by certain county officials.

The audit revealed $10,709.57 in unauthorized payments made to four county employees. Most of the money was repaid over the course of the audit with the exception of $237.57. The audit also reveals that various employees were awarded compensatory time or paid overtime without first working a 40-hour work week. Additionally, nearly 6,000 hours of miscalculated vacation time was awarded to county employees. Adjustments were made to employee leave balances to correct the mistakes.

“It is important that all tax dollars are spent legally and appropriately,” Taylor said. “Failure to follow policies put in place to safeguard public funds increases the potential of fraud, waste or abuse.”

The audit also outlined a budget process that contained several management deficiencies. Issues that could lead to future deficit spending include:

  • Failing to pass an annual tax budget indicating how much money was available to spend
  • Maintaining negative balances in several funds ranging from $400 to nearly $400,000
  • Errors in posting transactions to the county’s accounting system

A copy of the complete audit is available online at www.auditor.state.oh.us.

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The Ohio Auditor of State’s office is one of the largest accounting offices in the nation.  The office strives to ensure that all public funds are spent legally and appropriately and works aggressively to root out fraud, waste and abuse in public spending. Taylor encourages anyone suspecting fraud or misspending of public dollars to contact her office toll free at 1-866-FRAUD-OH (1-866-372-8364). Since taking office in January 2007, Taylor has identified more than $10.8 million in public funds that were handled improperly, spent illegally or stolen and must be repaid.