SHILOH — The financial clock is ticking in Shiloh.
On Sept. 5, Auditor of State Keith Faber issued a press release which 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.”
A letter from Faber’s office to Shiloh Mayor Paul Currier and Terri Sweeney, the village’s fiscal officer, said auditors were “unable to obtain accurate and complete monthly bank reconciliations for 2022, 2023 and 2024.”
The village must revise its financial records and provide the data necessary to complete the audit within 90 days from Sept. 3, which is when the letter was dated.
Tuesday marked 41 days since the letter was dated — meaning the village is nearly halfway through the time it was given to revise and provide accurate data to the Auditor of State’s Office.
During Tuesday evening’s Village Council meeting, Currier said Tisha Turner, a chief project manager with Local Government Services, has offered to help Shiloh through the process.
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.
The mayor said any services provided by LGS to the village would require a contract and come at a cost. He estimated the village could have to pay between $55 to $95 per hour for any assistance through LGS.
However, Currier said recently his emails to Turner have not received any response.
“We just can’t seem to punch through that hidden window, so we’ll just keep trying and we’ll keep documenting,” he said. “We’ll hope for the best on it.”
Ninety-day window is closing
Legal action is a possibility should Shiloh not be able to revise its financial records and provide the data necessary to complete the audit within the 90-day window.
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 Sept. 5 release.
In September, Sweeney told council she had started the process of attempting to correct the financial records by hand.
She said on Sept. 9 that she had finished 2023 and was working on 2022 and 2024.
Sweeney’s first day as the village’s fiscal officer was Nov. 1, 2021. She previously said this is the first audit she’s been through since taking the job.
On Tuesday, Sweeney said the state auditor’s office has advised the village that it should not do “anything out of the ordinary” or “that’s not necessary” in regards to expenditures while its still currently in the audit process.
She said Shiloh also plans to contact DiAnn Jamerson, the Village of Plymouth’s fiscal officer, to see if she can be of any assistance to the village in this process.