Cal Twp. corrects wrongs
State audit finds earlier problems now fixed; ‘financials much improved’
Calumet Township has righted its financial ship after years of mismanagement, the state’s auditors have declared.
A report for the years 2015 to 2019, issued Oct. 15 and recently posted online by the State Board of Accounts, said Calumet Township has corrected the issues that plagued its last review in 2014, which itself was a holdover from a 2011 review. As such, the auditors “are not aware of any material modifications that should be made to the accompanying financial statements in order to be in accordance,” the report read.
“You don’t beat people over the head for trying to correct mistakes,” SBOA State Examiner Paul Joyce said. “The report shows that the new Trustee (Kim K. Robinson) is making great strides, and their financials are much improved.”
The prior reports of 2011 and 2014, which fell under former Trustee Mary Elgin’s purview, showed numerous deficiencies, though there was no evidence of wrongdoing as far as missing or misappropriated funds, Joyce previously said.
Elgin, 75, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud; two counts of wire fraud; and willful failure to file a tax return in 2017, according to court documents. She was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison in May 2018 and was released in June.
Among past practices including allowing some employees to receive their pay three to seven days before other employees and granting paid vacation and sick leave time to some employees before they’d earned it, the previous report said, though Elgin at the time argued that she authorized those payments if the employee suffered a “life-changing event.”
As well, the township hadn’t submitted to the state forms generated by new computerized accounting software implemented in 2006, receipts and disbursements in the township’s annual report were “overstated significantly,” and verification wasn’t easily gleaned from general ledger reports, the state’s examination said. Ambulance fees were collected without proper authorization, and insurance claims weren’t always filed timely, nor were employee service records properly maintained.
Staff numbers have since been trimmed, and office keeps longer open four days, said Cender & Company Principal Steve Dalton, who handles the Trustee Office’s accounting, via email. It implemented a financial system specific to Indiana Townships; scrutinizes expense reimbursements, credit cards, and bank reconciliations; and publishes monthly financial records — as well as projections — to Gateway as required by statute, among other changes, Dalton said.
Additionally, Dalton said the township unloaded unused land and building assets to return them to the tax rolls. And unlike other municipalities, the township’s reserves are now enough that it borrows from itself at 0% interest while waiting for its property tax disbursements, should the need arise.
The township is in good enough shape, Dalton said, that should either North Township or St. John Township decide to accept the Town of Griffith, Calumet Township would be fine.
“The township is happy to remain the assistance provider unit to Griffith residents if they so choose, but is also prepared if they choose to leave,” Dalton said. “Where this event might have severely impacted the township’s finances a few years ago, the township can now withstand that possibility.
Robinson said she didn’t challenge the 2014 SBOA report, but neither did she accept responsibility for it because she’d just recently taken office and hadn’t had the chance to sit down with her financial people to assess what was needed. She credited Dalton and her deputy finance director, Gladys Miller, for their work in turning the situation around.
“We take things very seriously here, and we want to be in compliance with the state,” Robinson said. “I’m uber-proud of our finance team.”
Because townships generally don’t have water or sewer budgets with which to contend, they’re not subject to full state or federal audits, Dalton said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the PostTribune.