HUBBARD — The state auditor’s office issued two findings for recovery against two of the Eagle Joint Fire District’s former fiscal clerks following an audit of its finances.

According to a news release from Ohio Auditor Keith Faber’s office, the audit, which looked into the fire district’s finances from Jan. 1, 2022 through Dec. 31, 2023, included late fees of $1,195 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and $136.53 to the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) from Teena Wylie. Wylie served as the fire district’s fiscal officer from late 2022 to May 2023, after the fire district held an emergency meeting to accept her immediate resignation.

The finding against former fiscal officer John Morris included late fees of $16.41 to the IRS and $11.38 to OPERS.

“Paying late fees and penalties that could have been avoided by remitting withholdings on time does not qualify as expenditure of funds for a public purpose,” auditors noted.

Wylie and Morris and their bonding companies are jointly and severally liable for the totals, the release states.

Fire chief Ron Stanish explained the fees were incurred while Wylie was in place.

“So that’s all that was, a bunch of late fees that, you know, she failed to pay bills on time. That’s basically all I know about that,” Stanish said.

“John retired, we were trying to find a replacement for him. That one fee for John, it could have been in transition between him and Teena and the state just put that amount on John,” Stanish added. “And then Teena took over and she wasn’t with us very long.”

Marietta-based Perry and Associates Certified Public Accountants, the company performing the audit, noted the fire district paid $3,824 in penalties, late fees and interest charges for late payroll withholding submissions to the IRS and OPERS.

“Late payment fees and related finance charges are unnecessary expenditures which do not serve a proper public purpose,” the audit states. “These charges would have been avoided had the funds been remitted by the required due dates.”

Dave Mogg, who took over following Wylie’s departure, said the late fees shouldn’t be an issue anymore in the officials’ response portion of the audit.

“Because of the previous fiscal clerk’s sudden departure (without notice), I was brought in during May 2023 at first on a temporary basis, and then hired permanently in July 2023,” Mogg said. “The penalties and interest incurred from the time of my arrival were due to both my catching up on past due bills from the previous clerk and my inexperience. I have corrected our procedures so that going forward, this should no longer be an issue.”