SHILOH — Mayor Paul Currier told Shiloh lawmakers he doesn’t want to waste any time getting the village out of its current “unauditable” state.
Currier read aloud Tuesday letter from the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office for all in attendance to hear. Along with Village Council, five community members attended the meeting.
The letter, dated Sept. 3, was received by Currier and Terri Sweeney, the village’s fiscal officer, on Monday. A copy was also sent to each member of council and Shiloh Village Solicitor John Studenmund.
Along with being stated in a press release, the letter declared Shiloh as “unauditable” for the time period of Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2024, due to “inadequate financial records to complete an audit.”
The letter said auditors were “unable to obtain accurate and complete monthly bank reconciliations for 2022, 2023 and 2024.”
Currier told council that Tisha Turner, a chief project manager with Local Government Services, will arrive Wednesday morning to begin assisting the village with correcting its audit errors.
Available through the state auditor’s office, LGS serves as a consulting and fiscal advisory group to all government agencies, school systems, and political subdivisions in Ohio, according to its website.
This assistance is not free, the mayor said, estimating Turner’s help may cost the village anywhere from $27 to $30 per hour. But Currier said the cost is necessary.
He said the village’s fiscal office has been operating on dated software for quite some time, but added there are “no excuses or finger-pointing” for the inaccurate records.
The mayor said he also wanted to squash any rumors that there is “embezzling, stealing or a lack of money” happening within the village.
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The village must revise its financial records and provide the data necessary to complete the audit within 90 days from Sept. 3.
Failure to do so could result in legal action, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 117.42.
This could include Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost issuing a subpoena for Currier and Sweeney “to explain their failure to bring accounts, records, and reports into an auditable condition.”
Additionally, Yost may file suit to compel the preparation and/or production of the necessary information to complete an audit, according to the release.
Sweeney has started the process of attempting to correct the financial records by hand. She said Tuesday that she’s finished 2023 and is working on 2022 and 2024.
Both Sweeney and Currier expressed confidence the issue(s) can be revised and resolved within the 90-day deadline.
Sweeney’s first day as the village’s fiscal officer was Nov. 1, 2021. She said this is the first audit she’s been through since taking the job.
Prior to Sweeney, the village has gone through several fiscal officers.
Councilwoman Marilyn Hall, who previously served six years as Shiloh’s mayor, said she can recall having three different fiscal officers during her time in office. During Charles Reeder’s time as mayor, which followed Hall’s, she also thinks there were two or three different holders of the position.
While the situation isn’t ideal, Sweeney said she’s ready to work alongside LGS — largely because it provides a chance for meaningful training.
What makes an entity “unauditable?”
According to the Auditor of State’s Office, “an entity is determined to be in an unauditable condition when its accounts, records, files, or reports have been improperly maintained and are not adequate to complete the audit.”
Next steps:
- The Auditor of State’s office will notify the entity of the procedures needed to bring its accounts, records, files, or reports into an auditable condition to complete the audit. Failure to bring records into an auditable condition could result in legal action.
- An entity is removed from the unauditable list once the audit is completed and released to the public.
Shiloh hopes to shift to UAN
By the end of this process, Shiloh would like to shift its financial software to the Uniform Accounting Network through the the Auditor of State’s Office.
UAN is a financial software package which supports accounting, payroll and financial management activities of local governments in Ohio, according to its website.
It’s used by more than 2,150 Ohio townships, villages, libraries, special districts and cities use UAN in their daily operations, the Auditor of State’s Office reports.
Currier said nearby townships, including Cass and Bloominggrove, utilize UAN. He said the software has helped those townships clean up their financial records.