CLOVERDALE — Nearly three years after suffering a devastating tornado, ill winds are once again blowing through the Putnam County village of Cloverdale after a report from the Ohio Auditor of State’s office declared the village had more than $19,000 in unsupported expenditures and late fees since 2013.
In a report released Tuesday, the state Auditor’s Office found $13,684 in village payments did not have supporting documentation, with the village also facing $5,554 in late fees and overdraft charges from January 2013 to December 2015. These expenses were in the form of 50 checks written to 15 vendors, including A & D Tire, Norfolk and Southern, the Putnam County Sentinel and Meijer. Without documentation, the Auditor’s Office could not verify whether these expenses “served a proper public purpose.”
“A detailed receipt goes a long way toward ensuring accountability over public spending,” Auditor Dave Yost said in a statement. “Without one, there’s no proof that taxpayers got any return on investment.”
A finding for recovery for the $13,684 was issued by the auditor against Cloverdale Mayor Judd Spencer and Fiscal Officer Gwenn Spencer. As the audit progressed, a $200 expense to the Continental American Legion was resolved, bringing the total owed to $13,484.
While Spencer acknowledged that mistakes were made, he maintained that the tornado and subsequent damage to the village and its infrastructure made it nearly impossible to maintain proper documentation.
“We went four and a half months [after the tornado] without a [Uniform Accounting Network] system, which is supplied by the state auditor,” he said. “All small local governments have that system and is linked directly to the state auditor. They can go in and see what you’re doing at any given time.”
During that time, the village tried to maintain paper receipts and accounting, but with uncertainty as to what, if any, disaster assistance funding would come from the state, some bills went unpaid for some time, Spencer said.
“Our records and paperwork became a shambles,” he said. “I even asked a senior auditor who had said she had never seen an audit this bad, ‘Have you ever audited a township or village that went through a natural disaster?’ She said no.”
Adding to Spencer’s consternation is the fact that, according to him, the auditor is penalizing the village $1,000 for every missed receipt, no matter the amount.
“It feels like we’re going through the tornado all over again,” he said. “I’m losing sleep over this like I did after the tornado.”
While the village is bonded for these penalties, Spencer was hoping that, given the circumstances, the Auditor’s Office would be more sympathetic.
“They don’t care about Cloverdale,” he said. “They just want their money.”
The village is looking into appealing the penalities.
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