The Ohio Auditor of State in September released last year’s audit for Montgomery County.
The audit had no findings for recovery, but a Sept. 18 letter sent by the state auditor’s office to Montgomery County alongside the audit listed a few recommendations for offices that handle county money and pointed to the continuation of the investigation of the Montgomery County Clerk of Courts Office.
A search warrant of the office was served last November following allegations that Montgomery County Clerk of Courts Mike Foley engaged in inappropriate campaign-related activity at the clerk’s office, according to a document obtained by the Dayton Daily News.
“The Auditor of State is conducting an investigation, which is on-going as of the date of this report. Dependent on the outcome of the investigation, results may be reported on at a late date,” says the Sept. 18 management letter signed by Auditor of State Keith Faber.
The state auditor’s management letter also details a few instances of noncompliance with state standards. The county wrote a response to the management letter, which the newspaper obtained through a public records request.
In 2022, the county paid seven monthly charges totaling $2,152 for late fee penalties related to unpaid credit card balances. Late fee penalties are not considered a proper use of public funds without authorization by the Montgomery County commission, according to Montgomery County policy.
The Montgomery County commission approved the payment of the late fees in September of 2022.
“The County should establish and implement procedures to verify that penalties and late fees are not incurred and all county funds are used for a proper public purpose,” the management letter stated. “Failure to implement procedures to avoid penalties and late fees for expenditures may lead to findings for recovery being issued in future audits.”
The county’s response stated that the late charges stemmed from an agreement with a travel agent and carried over from the 2021 audit.
The county said it terminated its agreement with the travel agent, “which stopped the booking of unauthorized travel,” according to the response.
The county also approved a new travel policy that allowed employees to book travel and be reimbursed, and a new employee was hired to manage the travel and worked to clean up the outstanding credit card balance.
Since completing the cleanup, the county has had no late fees from the credit card, according to the county’s response to state auditors.
“The changes we implemented in June 2022 ensured on-time payments that eliminated late fees and ensured that the county funds were for proper public use,” the response stated.
The state’s management letter also noted the mislabeling of ARPA funds, which resulted in $1 million in funds being overstated or understated in different parts of the budget for Stillwater Center — a residential care facility for people with disabilities or significant medical needs.
The county acknowledged the misclassification in funds in its response to the management letter, stating it will review all revenue reported as non-operating revenue.
An item from the 2021 Montgomery County audit also appeared to be corrected in the county’s most recent audit.
The 2021 audit detailed a practice by the recorder’s office that required cashiers to pay back any shortages after daily receipts were collected.
“Best practices recommend overages be recorded as other revenue, and shortages be recorded as other expenditures. This policy should not force cashiers to immediately make up any shortage,” according to a management letter issued to the county in the 2021 audit.
The Ohio Auditor of State will audit Montgomery County for its 2023 finances in the coming months, as it does throughout Ohio annually. That report will be released in 2024.
About the Author
