Headlines 6 August 2024

Former fiscal officers in Jefferson County repay $29,086 in penalties

COLUMBUS – A finding for recovery of $29,086 was repaid by two former fiscal officers for the Village of Yorkville in Jefferson County for interest and penalties charged after they failed to make tax and unemployment compensation payments in a timely manner.

The total was included in a special audit released Tuesday by the Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which launched an investigation in March 2021 of former Fiscal Officer Korrene Prince and former Assistant Fiscal Officer Margaret Grady.

The full report is available online via Search Audit (ohioauditor.gov/auditsearch/search.aspx).

Grady was elected as Yorkville’s Clerk-Treasurer in 2003 and became Assistant Fiscal Officer in 2018, when Prince was hired as the Village’s Fiscal Officer. Both were fired from their positions in March 2021.

SIU’s special audit covered financial activities between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2021, and identified late fees and interest totaling $29,086, including $20,431 resulting from late state tax withholdings, $4,028 from late unemployment compensation remittances, $2,177 from late federal tax withholdings, and $2,450 in other late payment penalties.

Of the total finding, $21,598 was issued jointly and severally against Prince and Grady and her bonding company, and $7,488 was issued against Grady and her bonding company.

In June 2024, Grady repaid $17,861 and Prince repaid $11,225.

Criminal charges were not pursued at the conclusion of the investigation.

Since 2019, the Special Investigations Unit has assisted in 121 convictions resulting in more than $8.3 million in restitution (see Map of SIU Convictions since January 2019). The team receives hundreds of tips of suspected fraud annually. Tips can be submitted anonymously online or via SIU’s fraud hotline at 866-FRAUD-OH (866-372-8364).

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