Former bookkeeper owes township $18K
YOUR MONEY /
A former bookkeeper owes a Licking County township nearly $18,000 after a state audit found she was “perpetually sluggish in fulfilling her duties.”
The audit released Tuesday by Ohio Auditor Dave Yost’s office said former Jersey Township Fiscal Officer Beth Croak’s tardiness from 2012 through 2015 cost the township more than $15,000 in fines and interest from the IRS, in addition to $1,057 from the state.
Croak also had significant delays in her bookkeeping responsibilities, the auditor’s office said. She sometimes posted transactions to the township’s ledgers nine months after funds were collected, and some funds recorded in the township’s ledgers weren’t deposited until the next fiscal year.
After taking office in April 2012, Croak waited until February 2016 to start filing employer’s quarterly federal tax return forms with the IRS for most of 2012 through 2015, the auditor’s office said. The township paid the penalties assessed by the IRS when the documents were finally submitted in April 2016.
Earlier, Croak neglected to transmit $1,000 worth of state income taxes withheld from employees during the 2013 fiscal year.
Auditors issued findings for recovery totaling $17,609 against Croak, who was defeated in the November 2015 election.
Croak did not respond to a message left Tuesday with a family member seeking comment.
The township, located in western Licking County near New Albany, was placed on the auditor’s “unauditable list” in August 2015 and again in April after officials were unable to provide the necessary financial records and data to complete audits for the 2013-14 periods and 2015-16 periods.
No money was stolen by Croak, according to township Trustee Jim Endsley.
“We didn’t feel there was any impropriety,” Endsley said. “With that being said, the auditor found some things that they felt ought to be recoverable ... the trustees and the new fiscal officer are trying to work through these issues and put some things in place that will ensure that this doesn’t happen.”