Third-party audit could clarify money discrepancy in Baugo Township, township resident will do it

 

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. -- The books are a mess in Baugo Township, where a state audit shows over $400,000 are supposedly unaccounted for.

A special meeting was held Tuesday night with hopes of hiring an outside firm to figure out if there is missing money or if it's simply a recording error.

Whether the money is actually missing was up for debate in Tuesday's special meeting.

The meeting ended with an agreement to allow a volunteer member of the public to look over the books, and then the state again if need be.

"The state board of accounts audits the Baugo Township Records every year, they have not come to us and said there is anything wrong with our records," explains Madeline Smith, Member of the Baugo Township Advisory Board.

The state hasn't come to them with issue, but Township Advisory Board Member Peter Colan has.

That's why he filed a petition to remove Baugo Township Trustee Katherine Weaver from her elected position.

Colan called Tuesday's special meeting in hopes of hiring an outside firm to perform a review audit on the township's books.

"The taxpayers are very much against that, I'm against it," Smith says. "I feel that the state board of accounts is very capable, I mean that's what they do for the whole state of Indiana, every township."

Instead, a member of the Baugo Township community who is a CPA and has experience with audits, offered to take a look at the books free of charge.

After that though, the board will most likely go back to the state for a special audit to give a final answer to taxpayers.

"That will really clear the air for all the taxpayers that the state board of accounts has looked at our records, our funds, and they are either in agreement, or disagreement, or they need some clarification," says Smith. "But that will clear this whole issue."

It's not clear exactly when the community member will take a look at the records.