Columbus – Auditor of State Keith Faber has released the 2018 financial audit report on the City of Cincinnati today. The audit does not include any material findings; however, the Auditor’s office recommends that the City of Cincinnati make improvements to its internal controls and administration of overtime wages and compensatory time.

As a full city-wide audit, the scope of this review was extensive. During the regular course of audit procedures, the Hamilton County Prosecutor requested that the Auditor of State perform additional procedures to address two issues raised by an internal audit completed by the City of Cincinnati Police Department.

As requested, the Auditor’s office reviewed the Cincinnati Police Department’s internal audit. Based upon our review, and after consultation with Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, there is not a finding or referral regarding criminal activity related to issues addressed by the city’s internal audit of overtime wages and compensatory time.

The audit did find some weaknesses in several of the city’s departmental internal controls surrounding overtime hours, including within the police department. Based on these findings, the Auditor has issued several recommendations for the improvement of the city’s overtime wage and compensatory time policies and procedures. These recommendations included improving the documentation of hours, reassessing internal procedures for assigning overtime, and capping the amount of compensatory time an employee can accumulate.

“As recipients of taxpayer dollars, city governments have a responsibility to have proper and effective policies in place surrounding their overtime activity,” Auditor Faber said. “I encourage city leaders to consider our office’s recommendations and work together to tighten up their guidelines.”

Additionally, the Auditor’s office reviewed all sources of funds received by the City for the Emergency Communications (911) Center. The office did not identify any misuse of these funds.

A full copy of this report is available online.

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The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio is responsible for auditing more than 6,000 state and local government agencies. Under the direction of Auditor Keith Faber, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies, and promotes transparency in government. 

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