Among the findings, the audit revealed that the Champaign auditor’s office improperly certified tax rates in Jackson Twp. property tax settlements. When the auditor’s office tried to correct the mistake, a software error caused about $11,000 that was owed to the township to be paid to other entities, including St. Paris, Christiansburg and Graham Local School District.
“This results in incorrect financial statement revenues for each subdivision affected,” the audit showed. The audit also showed the county contacted its software vendor and was in the process of recalculating the settlement.
A separate finding also showed a tax settlement was owed to Urbana City Schools for $581,576, but only $81,576 was paid to the district. Mandy Hildebrand, treasurer for Urbana City Schools, said the district discovered the error while reviewing its bank statement in September last year. She said the balance was paid a few weeks later.
Another finding showed the county auditor’s office omitted a .6-mill increase on a tax abstract in Jackson Twp., ultimately resulting in 2,150 incorrect tax bills. The state’s audit showed the issue was corrected on second-half tax bills.
Karen Bailey, who replaced retired Bonnie Warman as county auditor, said many of the errors should not have occurred. Many could have been corrected with internal auditing procedures, which she is now implementing.
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