County financial issues moving forward

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Although the situation between the Van Wert County Auditor’s and Treasurer’s offices continues to improve, getting things back to normal will likely be an expensive proposition.

Former county auditor Nancy Dixon, who is acting as interim auditor while Auditor Phillip Baxter is on suspension, said things are moving forward to get the county’s finances back on track.

“We did get tax settlements done, that people were waiting for,” Dixon said, while also noting that special assessments are now caught up and tax rate information collected. “It’s moving little by little.”

Dixon also noted that the independent audit by Ohio CPA firm Rea & Associates is also progressing, with the Treasurer’s Office audit now completed from mid-September 2018 through February of this year. However, the county is not likely auditable by the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office until Rea & Associates has finished its work — a task Dixon said she hopes can be completed in a couple of months.

“They (state auditors) can’t start our 2019 audit until we get a better forecast of what’s happening,” Dixon said.

However, the cost of the independent audit also keeps rising, said County Commissioner Thad Lichtensteiger. Noting that Rea & Associates’ original quote of $30,000 was to get the county current through the end of 2019, the commissioner said the county’s expense is already far over that amount.

“We’ve spent $45,000 getting the independent audit just up to the first of this year,” Lichtensteiger said.

When asked if the county might have to spend $100,000, or more, to complete the independent audit, the commissioner noted that, while it is only conjecture at this point, that is a possibility.

“Based on that expense ($45,000), for three and a half months, it does not elicit confidence (that the expense will stay at that number),” Lichtensteiger noted.

The commissioner said that, unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an alternative to completing the audit.

“I don’t know that we have a choice but to spend that money and make sure those two offices are auditable,” Lichtensteiger said.

One good piece of news is that the county’s bond rating has not suffered from the situation, although that could change if the county can’t be made auditable. Lichtensteiger said the county’s current bond rating of A1 has been maintained, and there appears to be no action pending to downgrade it.

Meanwhile, there may be new officials heading both the treasurer’s and auditor’s offices by the end of next year.

Lichtensteiger said that, with Treasurer Nathan Vandenbroek having to run again for a full term in 2020, the current financial problems will likely result in him facing primary opposition from one or more Republican candidates.

It is also unknown whether Baxter, who faces criminal charges along with two other auditor’s office employees, stemming from their alleged trespass in the treasurer’s office earlier this year, will be reinstated as auditor following his current suspension by the Ohio Supreme Court.