COVID COUNT Former Supervisor denies wrongdoing
Royale Bonds
Breeze-Courier Writer
TAYLORVILLE — At the June 9, 2021 meeting of the Taylorville Township board, members discussed what they called the aftermath of former Taylorville Township Supervisor Deb McCoy’s time in office. After details of the meeting became public, McCoy talked with the Breeze-Courier and denied any wrong-doing while in office.
During the meeting, the Board stated there had been problems under McCoy’s tenure and current Township Supervisor, Billie Heberling, said she had received correspondence from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regarding the 941-SS Form. She said it did not match what was reported in the 2018 report sent to the state. Heberling also reported the health insurance premium was past due as was the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund contribution. However, these accounts are now current, she said.
McCoy did not agree with these allegations, she believes these claims and critiques are personal and unfounded.
“They were upset because I was the only Republican ever elected,” McCoy said.
She also believes the board members were upset about some of the decisions she made during her time in office.
“They got upset because I gave my assistant a larger performance bonus this year and they didn’t have any say over that,” she said. “That’s when they said I was misappropriating funds.”
McCoy admitted she has made some mistakes in the past which were corrected. Before submitting a copy of the audit report, McCoy said it will show that there were no findings and she did nothing wrong and that is why the current township board won’t release the audit.
“They’re (the Board) just bullies,” McCoy claimed.
An audit was conducted by Lively, Mathias, Hooper and Noblet, CPA’s, at the request of the trustees. Both McCoy and the township board provided a copy of the audit for the period Apr. 1, 2020 through Feb. 21, 2021 to the newspaper. Some sections of the audit had no findings that were deemed significant. However, it was noted on Town and General Assistance bank reconciliations for July 2020 that checks which were issued in previous months had been deleted rather than voided. The audit states, “We informed the Township Supervisor of the issues and how to properly void checks in the accounting software so that a proper audit trail is maintained.”
A check dated Aug. 12, 2020 for health insurance premiums to CMS in the amount of $2,413 had not cleared as of Feb. 28, 2021. The town Fund general ledger was reviewed for any large or unusual disbursements. On Feb. 10, 2021, the Township paid CMS health insurance $27,536 which brought the Township’s vendor balance current. Fiscal year 2021 health insurance payments were reviewed. Of the ten months reviewed, seven months had been paid and the checks had cleared while three were still outstanding on Mar. 5, 2021. Those were checks dated Aug. 12, 2020; Oct. 14, 2020; and Jan. 12, 2021. Based on the audi- tor’s review of the matter, it appears much of the CMS balance had been paid on Feb. 10, 2021 due to FY 2020 underpayments or lack of issuing payments.
McCoy was asked about the large and outstanding balances continued for over a year without payment and her response was, “I don’t know.”
Health Insurance invoices in the file were photocopies and the bottom section of the invoice that would show an outstanding balance car- ried forward was blocked out, according to the audit.
“I didn’t think they (the board) needed to know that,” McCoy said when asked about the situation.
The Town and Social Security Funds ledger activity was reviewed for evidence of the transfer of funds from the Social Security Fund to the Town Fund for reimbursement of payroll taxes paid by the Town Fund that are obligations of the Social Security Fund. Only two transfers were made during the fiscal year 2021 to date (the last November 2020) and it could not be determined which period the transfers were for. For the period under review, the Township portion should be approximately $17,655 and only transfers of $12,791 were noted.
The IMRF wage report summary for April-January 2021 were reviewed. There was not a monthly report for December 2020. The former supervisor had not completed the report at the time of the procedures it was stated. It was completed and submitted on Mar. 4, 2021.
The Township’s IMRF online account was reviewed. As of Mar. 5, 2021, the Township owed $4,178.92 for November 2020 and January 2021 contributions in addition to over $100 in penalties. The auditors requested the supervisor make the neces- sary IMRF deposits to cover the amounts due and they were made in the presence of the auditors on Mar. 5, 2021.
The general ledger activity for the Town and IMRF funds were reviewed for evidence of the transfer of funds from the IMRF Fund to the Town Fund for reimbursement of retirement contributions paid by the Town Fund. Only two transfers from the IMRF Fund to the Town Fund were made during fiscal year 2021 to date (November 2020) and it could not be determined which period(s) the transfers were for. The township portion of the municipal retirement for the period under review that should be reflected in the IMRF fund is approximately $11,831 and transfers of only $8,596 were noted.
The following recommendations were made by the auditors: “We recommend the Township report and remit retirement contribu- tions timely. The Township has a fiduciary responsibility to its personnel that are participants in IMRF to make the required contributions on time.”
The auditors continued: “At the conclusion of our onsite procedures, we made the following specific inquiries of the Township Supervisor. We asked the Township Supervisor if she was aware of any fraud, stealing or theft of Township funds or assets by any Township personnel, and her response was, ‘No.’
The auditors went on to say, “We asked the Township Supervisor if she personally had committed any fraud or stolen Townships funds or assets, and her response was, ‘Absolutely not.’ ”
The next Township Board meeting will be held on Monday, July 12 at 7:00 p.m. in the office of the Taylorville Township Clerk at the Taylorville Township building.
