Auditor: more than $21K in misspent funds in Spencerville

Craig Kelly, The Lima News, Ohio
·2 min read

Nov. 11—SPENCERVILLE — More than $21,000 was found to be misappropriated or misspent by Spencerville village officials, according to a release Thursday by the Ohio Auditor of State.

Findings for recovery have been issued against multiple village officials, Auditor Keith Faber announced, after multiple issues were found in the village's biennial audit for 2019 and 2020. There were 32 findings in that audit.

According to the auditor's office, notable findings in the audit included:

—$17,708 against village fiscal officer Lori Och and her bonding company after findings that she did not pay bills and remit pension and payroll withholdings on time, which resulted in late fees and interest payments. In six out of the 12 months in both 2019 and 2020, the village did not send funds from employee withholdings and employer contributions to the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System in a timely fashion.

—$2,862 against Och and her bonding company, as well as $353 against village administrator Sean Chapman after findings that both were overpaid in 2019 and 2020. Och and her bonding company are also listed as jointly liable for Chapman's overpayment, as she signed the warrants that led to the overpayments.

—$150 against Och, clerk of courts Heather Barber, Mayor Phil Briggs and their bonding companies after findings that fines for traffic and code violations paid through the Spencerville Mayor's Court were not deposited into village accounts.

Additionally, the Spencerville Police Department maintained a separate bank account for donations of funds that was not included in the village's 2019 and 2020 financial statements.

This is not the first time that Spencerville's ledgers have come to the attention of the state auditor's office. In 2019, the village was placed on the "unauditable" list for "a lack of financial records and bank reconciliations" related to the 2017-2018 fiscal audit. In a Jan. 5, 2021 story published in The Lima News, Briggs said that the village had hired a consultant to work with the fiscal officer to help with the software used by the state to record financial records.

Attempts to reach village officials for comment were not successful.

Reach Craig Kelly at 567-242-0390 or on Twitter @cmkelly419.