State audit faults township officials

Jersey Township officials spent more than $13,000 on home phone and internet services for a former township employee for six years, the state auditor’s office said Tuesday.

An audit released by Auditor Keith Faber’s office found that officials in the western Licking County township approved paying $13,220 toward phone and internet services at the home of former township fiscal officer Shirley Green. The township initially provided the connections so that Green could maintain the township’s financial records from her home.

After her term expired in 2012 and Green left office, township officials continued to pay for her internet and phone services until July 2018. Two fiscal officers, Beth Croak and Marko Jesenko, allowed the township to pay $9,420 from its general fund and $3,800 from its road and bridge fund for these services after Green’s departure, the audit reported.

The auditor’s office issued a finding for recovery and ordered Croak to repay $7,688 and Jesenko to repay $5,532 to the township’s general and roads and bridges funds. Jesenko’s figure does not include $119 he already has paid.

The audit report also noted that five township trustees — Roy Bailey, Ed Bright, Derek Myers, Daniel Wetzel and Jim Endsley — signed paperwork during those six years allowing the improper payments to go through.

“Local governments must put systems in place to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately,” Faber said in a statement. “I have issued a finding for recovery so that the lost funds are restored. In the meantime, I encourage the township to put more robust controls in place.”