Columbus – Auditor of State Keith Faber this week released the fiscal year 2018 audit of Athens County, which uncovered that the county’s Board of Election’s poor internal controls resulted in eight county employees being overpaid a total of $1,603.

“Sloppy financial organization costs taxpayer’s time and money,” Auditor Faber said. “The Athens County Board of Elections must put controls in place to stop their waste, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”

During the review of employee timesheets, state auditors found that the Board of Elections reported hours for a nine-day work week on some occasions. Upon further review, the timecards used by the Board of Elections are set up as eight days the first week of a pay-period and six days the second week. This is because the County Auditor’s payroll submission deadline each pay is mid-day on Friday at the end of each pay cycle. If an employee works additional time on that Friday, the Board of Elections puts that additional time on the next pay cycle, which can become a nine-day week. Because of extending the work week, coupled with the lack of internal controls, errors in calculating overtime resulted in the following over payments:

Auditor Faber has issued a finding for recovery against these individuals to ensure they fully repay the overpayments.

On August 8, 2019, Director Debra Quivey and Assistant Director Penny Brooks repaid the entire amount of $1,603 to the Athens County General Fund. The Auditor’s office considers this finding repaid under audit.

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. 

Contact:

Allie Dumski

Press Secretary

(614) -644-1111