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Taylor: Village of Bethel Audit Shows More Than $13,000 in Missing Funds

Bookkeeping Errors and Overpayments Result in Additional Misspending Totaling More than $12,000

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Clermont County - Auditor of State Mary Taylor today released audit reports for the village of Bethel, covering fiscal years 2006 through 2008. Audit findings show that Laurie Taylor, former clerk of the village mayor’s court, collected but did not deposit $13,258 in public funds.

According to the audit report, the former clerk received cash payments for mayor’s court fines but did not deposit them into the village account. She has since pled guilty to one count of theft in office and has been sentenced to five years probation and community service.

“Public officials must be held accountable for the tax dollars they manage. Good financial controls will help safeguard the village of Bethel and communities like it against the theft and misuse of taxpayer money,” Taylor said. “We will work with village of Bethel officials to ensure they take steps to prevent fraud and reduce their risk of theft in the future.”

In addition to the theft, Taylor’s office identified poor record keeping and a lack of management control over payroll and benefit policies that resulted in more than $12,000 in salary and benefit overpayments to several village employees.

All missing and misspent funds identified in the audit, a total of $25,493, must be repaid. In addition to the misspent money, the audit also identified another lack of management control issue, resulting in errors in village financial statements and a failure to comply with budgetary procedures required by Ohio law.

Full copies of the village of Bethel audits are available online: 2007 and 2008.

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Contact
Chris Abbruzzese
Director of Public Affairs
(614) 644-1111