We need a weekly review of the check register.
It was revealed in December that a little over a year ago, a $386,000 check – written back in May, 2024 – was listed in the county’s online payment register. And what was that check? It was for IRS fines.
By not reviewing it in May, 2024, we went all the way to December, 2024 before it was revealed that we had the IRS fines problem.
That’s six months that could have been used to mitigate the damage by that disastrous fine.
Then we fast forward to April of this year – there’s a check in the payment register, and these are all rounded figures, for $175,000 to the U.S. Treasury/IRS.
So, we’ve probably missed another month of IRS fines still biting us.
The date is listed, by the way, as 2020, but it was just paid in April.
Another aspect of why county should review the payment register – besides informing council and the public – is to keep people honest.
I also noticed a couple of unusual expenditures …$19,000 in the last two months for food supplies and food for the county.
No explanation, no reason.
What is that?
Who’s minding the taxpayers’ money?
I could go on for hours and talk about just in the last few months suspicious expenditures that could be a waste of money and certainly may be a sign of trouble ahead…certainly the IRS checks are.
Now, the other issue with the payment register is if you start reviewing it, you’ll see there’s hardly any description. So no one really knows why this money was dispensed.
There’s an entry for $27,000 for services. A name is listed but nothing else.
So, please, review the county’s check registry monthly!