A report from State Auditor Dave Vaudt shows several thousand dollars of improper spending by a former city official in the Madison County town of Truro. Vaudt says the mayor asked for the audit.
Vaudt says the mayor noticed some fees for late payments and asked for an audit. He says they found around $75,000 of improper payroll disbursements over a period of six years. Vaudt says about $64,000 was for improper salary payments to the clerk and $6,000 of improper reimbursements to the clerk, and the rest was for penalties for not making payments on time.
Kelli Bregar was the city clerk during the time where the audit showed the improper payments. Vaudt says Bregar did not keep good records and it is not know if there may be more money that was improperly spent. Vaudt says some of the city records were altered, and not all of the records were there, so it was hard to tell if more money was missing than the $75,000 they were able to document.
Vaudt says this is another case where more oversight would prevent problems. He says smaller cities have limited personnel and that makes it important for elected officials to get involved in reviewing the activities, such as reviewing checks to be sure they are being paid to the proper people.
Vaudt says a copy of his report has been sent to the Madison County Attorney’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office and the Division of Criminal Investigation so they can determine if any criminal charges will be filed.