Mayor: Auditor looking at city’s books
Marion Mayor Scott Schertzer said the state auditor’s office should be investigating the mistaken $1.28 million payment, but instead, conversations are currently focused on balancing the books from 2020.
The issues prompted Schertzer to question whether City Auditor Robert Landon is fit for his position, and he said Landon should resign if the problems cause the city to lose federal money. With Marion nearing the ninth month of this year, Schertzer is concerned that the 2020 books won’t be balanced in time as an entire year’s worth of bookkeeping needs to be done before Sept. 30.
The impacts of not having the books balanced could be drastic on the city, Schertzer said. It would impact the city’s ability to receive federal money which Schertzer noted is used for many public services including police and fire, public transit, and sewage and storm line projects. Additionally, with the city awaiting the second half of roughly $1.7 in ARPA money next year, Schertzer said that too could be impacted or reduced.
“It could seriously jeopardize all federal dollars the city receives for years to come which in turn will impact the services the city provides to its citizens,” Schertzer said.
While in an interview that aired on Wednesday morning on WWGH, Schertzer said this could cost the city
upwards of $2.5 million in federal money when looking ahead to 2022 and 2023.
Schertzer, along with deputy auditor Marden Watts and officials from the mayor’s office, met with the representatives from the State Auditor Office to discuss the 2020 books along with taking a deeper look into the mistaken payment of $1.28 million to the state intended for the IRS. Landon was not involved in the meeting on Tuesday afternoon after he reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday of last week.
The Marion Star reached out for comment on Wednesday morning, but Landon did not respond by mid Wednesday.
The State Auditor coming to Marion is an annual occurrence, Schertzer said, but this time is more unusual than most.
With the State Auditor currently being tasked with investigating the mistaken $1.28 million payment, that investigation cannot start until the 2020 books are completed. As of yesterday, two deadline extensions have already been filed for balancing the books and Schertzer said he fully expects another extension to be asked for from the City Auditor’s Office.
As of Wednesday morning, the current extension is set to end on Aug. 31. Schertzer, while on WWGH, said the city has until Sept. 30 to file its documentations and if it misses that deadline, it could seriously impact the city’s money.
“I think asking for further extensions is just a stall tactic from the City Auditor now,” Schertzer said. “We’re almost done with the eighth month of 2021 and you don’t have the books reconciled from last year?”
Schertzer said a main issue here is the 2020 books were not being balanced each month.
This situation with the 2020 books has become a point of frustration for Schertzer. Last year, he said his office was pulled in to help the City Auditor’s Office balance the books for 2019. And this year, he and his service directors are being pulled back in to help with the books for 2020. While on WWGH’S Now with Scott Spears, Schertzer repeatedly stated he is not Landon’s boss nor is Schertzer in charge of keeping track of the books. In a later conversation with the Marion Star, Schertzer said its up to Landon to make sure monthly reconciliations are conducted to ensure the books are where they need to be.
As for the $1.28 million mistaken payment investigation, Schertzer said the city could be facing penalties between $120,000 and $150,000 from the IRS. Currently, the penalties that have been assessed are under appeal.
Story by Mitch Hooper | (740)-2449935 | bhooper@gannett.com | @_MH16 on Twitter