Ohio auditor’s office releases 2013 Niles audit with similar problems as 2012 audit

Staff report

NILES

The Ohio Auditor’s Office released its audit of Niles finances for 2013 and determined that 10 of the 11 problems it cited in the 2012 audit have not yet been fixed. The 2013 audit also lists 11 problems.

In the 2012 audit, released in December, the auditor’s office found 11 problems with the city’s finances, including lack of segregation of duties and lack of oversight of the work of Phyllis J. Wilson, former assistant treasurer, who was convicted this year of stealing $142,772 from the city dating back to 2009. She was sentenced to six months in prison in April and ordered to make restitution.

The 2013 audit says there is still a lack of monitoring of the city’s financial records, negative fund balances and inadequate accounting records to back up account balances, and payroll expenses being posted to improper funds.

But because Wilson’s thefts were resolved, the finding in 2012 regarding her thefts is “no longer valid,” the audit says.

It does, however, discuss another employee, Heidi Powell, former income tax assistant, who stole $728 in 2014, which results in a finding for recovery in the 2013 audit.