By Kelly Cantwell
Editor
The Ohio Auditor Dave Yost put the village of Newtonsville in fiscal caution on April 26 after determining there were major deficiencies in the financial records.
The village is on the “unauditable list” and has 60 days to show auditors a plan to correct the issues and 90 days to get the village accounts, records and reports into an auditable condition, according to a press release.
Newtonsville’s account journals and ledgers haven’t been reconciled with the bank since Dec. 31, 2012. The records are in such a bad condition that auditors could not determine fund balances for 2014, 2015 and 2016, the release states.
“The village’s 2012-2013 basic audit identified significant deficiencies, material weaknesses and direct noncompliance with Ohio law. The audit determined that expenditures exceeded appropriations in the general fund, contributions to OPERS were not submitted, bank reconciliations were not performed and financial reports were not filed for either year,” the release states.
Newtonsville has had four fiscal officers in the last year and there is currently a vacancy, Mayor Kevin Pringle said.
The village was using a program called Uniform Accounting Network, a software package that supports Ohio local governments’ accounting, payroll and financial management activities. It was created by the Auditor’s Office, according to the website.
However, one of the fiscal officer’s disconnected the paperwork from UAN in 2014 but did not tell Pringle or the village council. When they asked a new fiscal officer to conduct an internal audit in 2015, they discovered how much paperwork had not been filed, Pringle said.
He is currently working to get all the paperwork in order and hopes to put the village back on UAN as soon as possible, which may not be until the fourth quarter this year.
“I’m working very hard on it,” Pringle said.
He hopes to have everything ready in six weeks.