Audits for the years of 2005 and 2006 have been released by the office of Auditor of State, Mary Taylor. The auditor’s report indicates that Lakemore village officials failed to improve financial oversight.
“The lack of fiscal oversight could contribute to Lakemore’s current budget shortfalls,” Taylor said. “The residents of Lakemore deserve to know exactly how their tax dollars are being spent and I strongly encourage village officials to improve the oversight and accountability of financial record keeping and decision making.”
Lakemore was declared “unauditable” on September 17, 2007 for the years 2003 and 2004. This was due to the fact that the village failed to provide the state with the financial records needed to complete an audit in a timely manner. According to Mayor Mike Kolomichuk there were no records.
"How can people do business without receipts for what they spent,” Kolomichuk asked. “Fiscal Officer Rick Quay spent many months trying to sort things out and make the books auditable for the auditor’s office.”
Quay began working for the village at the end of 2005. Kolomichuk took office in January 2008.
The Auditor of State’s Local Government Services section has been working with village officials to perform routine financial responsibilities such as balancing the books. According to the office of the auditor the unauditable designation means records and documents necessary to conduct a routine financial audit are missing, incomplete or inaccurate. The release of the audit on July 2 officially removes Lakemore from the unauditable list.
The audit reveals that in 2005, village officials failed to pass a formal budget outlining how they intended to spend public tax dollars. They eventually passed a budget in 2006 that state auditors said was insufficient.
Additional findings include: Disorganization in the management of the utility department and a lack of records documenting periodic water meter readings, mismanagement of employee compensation and failure to approve routine financial reports and balance village accounts on a monthly basis, resulting in several errors
Deputy Press Secretary Steve Faulkner said the problem is a pattern of sloppy work and poor record keeping. He also said the books previous to the years 2005 and 2006 showed the same type of work. This problem has persisted throughout the years and is due to the fact Lakemore never had passed a budget back in these years.
Kolomichuk said one of his goals as mayor was to get the village back in good graces with the state. They have turned older, unaditable books into auditable books and have had a working budget for the past couple of years.
“Economics are dismal due to limited tax dollars,” Kolomichuk said. “We are working to spend those dollars wisely as any family needs to do in these times, work within the budget.”
