T-L File Photos/JANELL HUNTER Yorkville Mayor Blair Closser says the village will resolve a problem with its financial records that led the Ohio auditor to declare the village “unauditable.”

YORKVILLE — Incomplete financial records and bank reconciliations prompted Ohio Auditor Dave Yost to place the village of Yorkville on the “unauditable” list..

The Ohio State Auditor’s Office released information Thursday stating that during the course of the regular financial audit of the village of Yorkville for the period Jan. 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2016, the auditor’s office determined that the village’s financial records were not adequate to complete the audit. In a letter to the village, the auditor’s office provided a list of information required to complete the audit.

The letter states that the village did not file financial statements in the Hinkle system for 2015 and 2016. According to the auditor of state’s office, The Hinkle Annual Financial Data Reporting System is an internet-based application that allows certain financial statements, debt and demographic data to be entered and/or uploaded and transmitted to the state auditor to satisfy the filing requirements prescribed by Ohio Revised Code and the Ohio Administrative Code.

Ohio Revised Code statute 117.38 requires each public office, other than a state agency, to file a financial report for each fiscal year. According to ORC 117.01(D), “public office” means any state agency, public institution, political subdivision or other organized body, office, agency, institution or entity established by state laws for the exercise of any function of government.

Representatives of the state auditor’s office met with village Clerk/Treasurer Peggy Grady on March 2, at which time a deadline of March 30 was established to get village records reconciled and to file the financial statements into the Hinkle system. Yost said in the letter that several emails and messages left with Grady regarding the status of those statements went unanswered.

According to Yost and East Region Chief Auditor Joey Jones, within 90 days of the letter dated May 9, the village must revise its financial records and provide the necessary data. Failure to bring accounts, records and reports to an auditable condition may result in legal action, including the possibility of the Ohio attorney general issuing a subpoena to village officials to explain the condition of the records. The attorney general may also file suit to compel the officials to prepare and/or produce the required information.

“Poor records lead to poor service for taxpayers,” Yost said. “Auditable records must be provided to complete the audit and ensure accountability.”

In the letter, Yost and Jones state that the Auditor’s Local Government Services division is available to village officials to assist in bringing records to an auditable condition and that LGS provides a “wide variety of services to local governments, including reconstructing financial records and aid in the reconciliation of books.”

Yorkville Mayor Blair Closser said the village is taking steps to rectify the situation and that he met with village council about the matter.

“We all received copies of the letter and know we have a 90-day grace period to get everything in order. Unfortunately, Peggy (Grady) didn’t get all the paperwork done,” Closser said. “It is just a matter of her getting the paperwork done in a timely manner. We are aware of the problem and are taking care of it.”

An entity is removed from the “unauditable” list once the audit is completed and released to the public.