SAUK VILLAGE FINANCIAL MESS - Politics over Progress

This is the second in a series of revelations of the 2014-15 Audit Report.  The Village was delinquent in filing their audit with the Illinois Comptroller (due December 26, 2015).  The Audit report (see attached link at the end of this report) reveals the status quo with the Village finances continues with 3 years into David Hanks’ Administration.

SAUK VILLAGE | Instead of discussing ways in which his administration can address the serious issues with the Audit Report, David Hanks cancels yet another Village Board Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled for Tuesday March 1^st.  He and Trustees he supports continue politics over progress, instead of asking questions and seeking solutions to the vast problems within the Audit.   Trustees Rosie Williams, Lynda Washington and Ed Myers continue to support the inaction by Hanks and his administration.

The Village Treasurer James Griegel is under an indictment by the Will County States Attorney and is under a Federal Investigation for alleged misappropriation of funds for the Police Pension Fund remains on the taxpayer’s payroll!  Griegel allegedly took “thousands of dollars” from the Police Pension Fund.  This has happened under the watch of Mayor David Hanks and the complete financial mismanagement which the Trustees he controls (Williams, Washington and Myers) enable him to do. 

The recent audit report has revealed 19 material weaknesses.  A material weakness in a audit is a “deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Village’s financial statements will not be prevented, or detected and corrected on a timely basis.  We (the auditors) consider the following deficiencies in the Village’s internal control to be material weakness”

Excerpt from the 2014-15 Audit: 

2.       Lack of Segregation of Duties (Repeated from Prior Year)

Similar to many other organizations of the Village’s size, substantially all accounting functions of the Village are performed by a single individual.  As a result, some of the aspects of internal accounting control which rely upon adequate segregation of duties are missing in the Village and a general lack of internal controls exists, increasing the risk of fraud or errors may occur and remain undetected.

 

Nothing was done to correct this Material Weakness from the prior year’s audit report, and we see what the lack of oversight of taxpayers’ dollars can do with the Village Treasurer scandal.
 
An expert on Illinois Municipal Finance, intimately familiar with Sauk Village’s financial history reviewed the Village’s audit and management letter and stated the following:   “I don't believe any of these are just normal issues.  In a well run environment, none of these issues should occur.  There should always be a system of "double-check" in order to eliminate any possibility of wrongdoing.  We have many of these safeguards in place to prevent fraud and provide transparency with taxpayer’s money.   What I don't get is the lack of attention being paid to account receivables.  What exactly does everyone working at Village Hall do?  Why is it that the Finance Director has no backup from existing staff?

***CLICK HERE*** FOR A FULL COPY OF THE AUDIT REPORT