An audit at the Germantown Union Cemetery revealed a financial misstep. Former Fiscal Officer Julie Delph and a manager face a combined $2,100.89 in findings for recovery over late fees and improper vacation payout, as indicated in the latest release from the Ohio Auditor of State's office.
The audit, scrutinizing the financial activities from January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2023, found Delph used an incorrect hourly rate when calculating the accrued vacation payout for cemetery Sexton Mark Steinecker; this error resulted in an overpayment of $1,578.10, Steinecker along with Delph and her bonding company were deemed liable for the finding, meanwhile, auditors also stumbled across $522.79 in interest and penalties due to late remittances of state taxes and Ohio Public Employees Retirement System withholdings, illustrious late payments that the cemetery could’ve sidestepped if it made timely remittances.
As a result of these discrepancies, both Delph and her bonding company are on the hook for the full amount which includes the added fines, "These charges would have been avoided had the funds been remitted by the required due dates," according to the Ohio Auditor of State's Office, as the audit asserts, the mismanagement of cemetery funds has cast a shadow over administrative practices where the dead lay in eternal slumber, undisturbed by such earthly concerns yet their final resting place's keepers find themselves embroiled in the decidedly material intricacies of financial oversight.
The full audit report, which provides a detailed account of the financial oversight, can be read online at the Ohio Auditor's website, this information is essential for stakeholders and the public alike to ensure transparency and accountability in how public funds are managed, especially when it comes to places of reverence and communal memory like the Germantown Union Cemetery.
