Accusations by Shawano County Supervisor Lowel Hammett that $1 million is missing from the county treasury aren’t going away.
County resident Tim Steffen asked the county board Aug. 27 for a forensic audit of the books to set the record straight.
“As we know, a general audit is not designed to uncover fraud, any misappropriation of funds or any other financial impropriety,” he said. “For that, a full forensic or compliance audit is needed.”
He requested a forensic audit be completed with full participation of the county treasurer. He also asked that the results be made available to the board and public as soon as possible.
“Then and only then will we be able to say no fraud was found,” he said.
County Board Chairman Tom Kautza wasn’t having any of it.
“The audits are being handled in the appropriate manner as required by the state statutes,” he said. “There’s nothing to be found. That’s all baseless and nonsense.”
He said the audit books are open to the public.
“If you can’t understand them yourself, our department will help explain,” he said. “Feel free to take one, and take it to a certified public accountant, and have him give it a look if that’ll appease you.”
Next, at the Sept. 3 meeting of the executive committee, Kautza said he had a letter from the Baker Tilly, the county’s auditors, in which several claims were made.
First, forensic audits are often aimed at a particular department or time; neither is the case here.
Second, a forensic audit would cost tens of thousands of dollars, starting at around $50,000.
Kautza and other committee members claimed some supervisors — without citing names — have asked that Hammett be removed from the board for making the “blanket nonsense statement” as Kautza labeled it.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
