Gov. Mike Pence and the Indiana General Assembly should be ashamed of themselves for letting this happen, but I suspect they aren't. The State Board of Accounts says it is no longer auditing certain local governmental entities where the theft of public assets by corrupt officials and employees has been rampant. That includes libraries, townships, small towns, conservancy districts and some school accounts. The State Board of Accounts' Paul Joyce told The Herald Bulletin that he didn't have enough staff or money to audit all local governments. "I only have so many people to do a job. It's not that I don't want to do them," Joyce said of the audits. "I have places that have not been reviewed in five years."
The State Board of Accounts presently only charges $45 a day for the accounts it audits. Joyce plans to ask the legislature for authority to bill governmental entities up to $45 an hour for those services. The Indiana Association of Cities and Towns supports increasing the charges in spite of the higher costs. "Deborah Driskell, executive director of the Indiana Township Association, said higher auditing costs might be a problem for small townships, but State Board of Account audits are important to maintaining public trust," according to the report.
According to researchers, governmental units are frequent victims of embezzlers because of poor supervision and a lack of separation of duties. The State Board of Accounts does an excellent job at a reasonable cost and with limited resources. They should be provided with adequate resources to audit all of Indiana’s units of government.
ReplyDeleteWhen you cut taxes, you end up cutting services... I suppose you could require those that aren't audited to hire some approved contractor to perform an audit - aka privtization - but then someone else either raises taxes or decreases services...
ReplyDeleteGary,
ReplyDeleteThey openly steal from the public through giving millions and billions of public dollars directly to private parties. When they do steal this way, they are praised by the local media.
Dipping into the till is only for small-dollar amateurs.
as with the Securities and Exchange Commission, those who are gaming the system don't want oversight. the Smithsonian has more employees than the SEC.
ReplyDeletethe Board of Accounts is kept neutered by mutual agreement of the two party system.
Not enough money for routine audits, crumbling infrastructure, high infant mortality rates, bottom-performing schools, the list goes on and on....
ReplyDeleteBut, hey, we got our $2B surplus.
Maybe they should float a bond issue to fund the operating cost of the State Board of Accounts? They are doing for fund other operational budget lines.
ReplyDeleteMy 10:48 comment of yesterday was prescient. Mere hours later, Angie's List was given $25 million of public money.
ReplyDeleteIt's senseless to audit governments, because any money left lying about in the public treasury is given to political friends.
When a government gives away $25 million or a billion, it's difficult to feign shock when a clerk walks off with $700 for rent money.
Shame on the government for not spending it, first.