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Taylor Releases Village of Lakemore Audit

Report indicates village officials have failed to improve financial oversight

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Summit County -

Auditor of State Mary Taylor today released the audit of the village of Lakemore for fiscal years 2005 and 2006. The village took more than a year to submit financial documents to the Auditor of State’s office as required by state law. This resulted in a significant delay in the audit process.

“The lack of fiscal oversight could contribute to Lakemore’s current budget shortfalls,” Taylor said. “The residents of Lakemore deserve to know exactly how their tax dollars are being spent and I strongly encourage village officials to improve the oversight and accountability of financial record keeping and decision making.”

Taylor declared Lakemore “unauditable” on September 17, 2007 for failing to provide the state with timely financial records needed to complete an audit. Since that time, the Auditor of State’s Local Government Services section has worked extensively with village officials to perform routine financial responsibilities such as balancing the books. An unauditable designation means that records and documents necessary to conduct a routine financial audit are missing, incomplete or inaccurate. The release of the audit today officially removes the village of Lakemore from the unauditable list.
 
The audit reveals that in 2005, village officials failed to pass a formal budget outlining how they intended to spend public tax dollars. They eventually passed a budget in 2006 that state auditors say was insufficient. Additional findings include:

  • Disorganization in the management of the utility department and a lack of records documenting periodic water meter readings
  • Mismanagement of employee compensation
  • Failure to approve routine financial reports and balance village accounts on a monthly basis, resulting in several errors

A copy of the complete audit is available online at www.auditor.state.oh.us.

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