File Photo by Janell Hunter Yorkville Village Council members conduct a recent council meeting.

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

The auditor’s office released information Thursday stating that during the course of the village’s regular financial audit for the period of Jan. 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2016, it 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 the village did not file financial statements for 2015 and 2016 in the Hinkle Annual Financial Data Reporting System, an internet-based application that allows certain financial statements, debt and demographic data to be transmitted to the state auditor to satisfy the filing requirements prescribed by state law.

Ohio Revised Code requires each public office, other than a state agency, to file a financial report for each fiscal year. A “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 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.