CANFIELD Treasurer will train officials

The state auditor says the township needs to address two financial problems.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- This township's treasurer says she's getting ready to start a new part-time job providing computer training for township officials in other parts of Ohio.
Carmen Heasley said she expects to start work with the state auditor's Uniform Accounting Network soon after today's election. The network provides townships, villages and libraries with an accounting computer system and system maintenance for a monthly user fee.
Network employees also train township employees to use the system. About 75 percent of townships in Ohio use the system.
Heasley said she will continue to serve as the township's treasurer while she is working for UAN. She said she had been offered a job with the state at a township trustees meeting Oct. 28.
During the meeting, Heasley also discussed the results of the state's audit of the township for 2000-01. The audit showed that the township had resolved two of the three financial problems cited in its 1998-99 state audit.
That audit showed that the township had appropriated $99,000 from the Sugarbush Drainage fund even though only $49,845 was in the fund. It also showed that the township had certified that there was $88,000 in the fund and that it actually spent $65,816.
The state auditor also reviewed a sample of the township's invoices and purchase orders for the 1998-99 audit. The review showed that in about 20 percent of the orders, trustees had agreed to spend money from an account before the treasurer had certified that there was enough money in the account to spend.
Problems from before
Heasley noted that those problems occurred in the late 1990s, before she took office. The 2000-01 audit states that the township resolved the two problems with the Sugarbush fund from 1998 and 1999.
The audit also states, however, that trustees had appropriated $39,557 from the account when it was empty in 2000. An auditor's review for 2000-01 also showed that in about 6 percent of purchase orders, trustees again agreed to spend money from an account before the treasurer had certified that there was enough money in the account to spend.
Heasley said she expects the issues cited in the 2000-01 audit to be corrected when she addresses other financial problems that began in the township in the late 1990s. That's when the township's previous treasurer began using computers, Heasley said.
"I'm very proud of it," she said of the 2000-01 audit. "As far as I'm concerned, it's the best audit this township's had in some time."
Trustee Judy Bayus responded to Heasley's comments by stating that she feels her husband, Ed, served as a mentor to Heasley during her first two years as treasurer.
Credit for helping out
Heasley, however, credited former Trustee William Weaver and Susan Greco, the treasurer and secretary for the Cardinal Joint Fire District, for helping her when she started as treasurer.
"I'm not going to have anybody taking credit for all the hard work that I've done in this job," she said.
Heasley noted that that the state is using a payroll form she devised as an example for other townships. She added that she collected about $30,000 for the township by ensuring that car dealers have the $5 license plate fee paid by township residents sent to the township, and not the city of Canfield.
hill@vindy.com