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Taylor Releases West Licking Joint Fire District Audit

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Licking County -

Auditor of State Mary Taylor today released the audit for the West Licking Joint Fire District for calendar years 2006 and 2007.  The audit revealed more than $10,000 in findings for recovery, or determinations that public monies were illegally expended, are owed by fire district employees.  The audit also indentified record keeping errors resulting in 23 audit adjustments and reclassifications to the fire district’s 2007 and 2006 financial statements.

“The citizens of Ohio deserve to know that their tax dollars are spent legally and appropriately,” said Taylor.  “It is important that fire district officials use this audit as a tool to reduce errors and make improvements in their financial record keeping.”

The audit finds that the $10,746.97 in findings for recovery were issued against several fire district employees.
The entire amount was repaid during the course of the audit.  Taylor is referring the issue to the Ohio Attorney General for review.

Specifically, the audit notes fire district employees were overpaid:

• $1,480.84 for on-call duty
• $2,006.08 for incorrect base-salary pay
• $6,270 for their yearly longevity bonuses
• $680.38 for excess sick and vacation leave time
• $184.67 for overtime work

Additionally, the fire district paid $125 for an employee and his wife to attend the International Association of Fire Chiefs Conference.  Because the fire district board did not approve the expenditure, and the spouse was not employed by the district, the employee is required to repay the event registration cost.

A copy of the full 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 $18.5 million in public funds that were spent illegally and must be repaid.