The Village of Dillonvale, nestled in Jefferson County, found itself in a fiscal mismatch as state auditors discovered overpayments made to former employees for unearned sick leave, resulting in findings for recovery amounting to $1,737.56. This financial discrepancy was unearthed during an audit spanning from January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2022, a meticulous process intended to untangle and scrutinize the village's ledger.
According to the audit report published by the Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber's Office, Nathan Kovach, whose term of employment spanned from September 2020 to December 2021, received $1,489.92 for 129.05 hours of sick leave which he was not entitled to, the error not just a mere miscalculation but a burden now shared by the Village Fiscal Officer Zachary Thomas and his bonding company as they are jointly and severally liable for the total amount to be recovered. A similar overpayment occurred with Mike Skatula, employed from August 2021 through December 2022, who was paid $247.64 for 19.5 hours of non-accrued sick leave, and once again, the former Village Fiscal Officer Beth Petrosino, alongside her bonding company, bears the joint and several liability.
The full audit report is open for public scrutiny, accessible online which serves as a testament to the Auditor of State’s commitment to transparency. This office headed by Auditor Keith Faber has the mammoth task of auditing over 5,900 state and local government entities within Ohio, in addition to providing related financial services, diving deep into the cesspools of fraud, while simultaneously advocating for lucidity in the public sphere.
