Financial missteps have led to findings for recovery against two former fiscal clerks of the Eagle Joint Fire District in Trumbull County, with the Ohio Auditor of State Office issuing a report Tuesday. The fiscal shakedown uncovered $1,360.25 in late fees and penalties resulting from tardy payroll withholdings. An accountability measure, if ever there was one, but certainly not the kind that puts out fires.
The audit, which spanned from January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2023, pinpoints the negligence of Teena Wylie and John Morris, the former fiscal clerks whose delay in submitting funds incurred extra costs to both the Internal Revenue Service and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS).
Per the auditor's findings, Teena Wylie is on the hook for the lion's share with $1,195.93 to the IRS and $136.53 to OPERS, while John Morris's slower pace cost $16.41 to the IRS and $11.38 to OPERS. "Paying late fees and penalties that could have been avoided by remitting withholdings on time does not qualify as expenditure of funds for a public purpose," the auditors remarked, according to the Ohio Auditor of State Office, a sobering note that echoes the gravity of stewardship and the fine line it treads with carelessness.
As detailed in the online report, the accountability doesn't end with Wylie and Morris; their bonding companies also share responsibility for settling the score. It's a tale of caution in numbers and diligence, where the consequence of delay stretches beyond personal reprimand and trickles down to the ledger of public trusteeship, reminding those who wield the accounts that the calculus of good governance abides by the timely tendance of its dues.
