The city of North Royalton recently earned the Auditor of State Award. A presentation was given to North Royalton Finance Director Eric Dean and Council President Larry Antoskiewicz by State Auditor Keith Faber on February 21 in order to recognize the city for thorough and accurate records keeping. Antoskiewicz is the Chairman of the North Royalton City Council Finance Committee. Faber presented the award for the city’s 2017 financial reporting.
“We take our finance responsibility to our tax payers very seriously in North Royalton,” said Mayor Bob Stefanik. I’d like to commend Finance Director, Eric Dean, and Finance Committee Larry Antoskiewicz and all the members of Council for working together to ensure that tax payers dollars are spent wisely.”
According to state officials, “the Auditor of State’s office presents awards to public entities that meet specific criteria during their financial audit.” These include municipal governments and school districts. “Auditor of State Award eligible entities that receive the award meet the following criteria of a “clean” audit report:
• The entity must file timely financial reports with the Auditor of State’s office via the Hinkle System in accordance with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles);
• The audit report does not contain any findings for recovery, material citations, material weaknesses, significant deficiencies, Uniform Guidance (Single Audit) findings or questioned costs;
• The entity’s management letter contains no comments related to:
Ethics referrals
Questioned costs less than the threshold per the Uniform Guidance
Lack of timely report submission
Reconciliation issues
Failure to obtain a timely Single Audit in accordance with Uniform Guidance
Findings for recovery less than $500
Public meetings or public records issues
• The entity has no other financial or other concerns”
“Any time we can get a favorable award is always good,” said Antoskiewicz. “This one means a little more. Over the years it has been difficult to satisfy their requirements. The office always seem to find something. You’ve been doing it this way for a number of year and they say, ‘now we want you to do it this way’. The award is a testament to how meticulously Eric is and it bodes well. It’s an award that is not just given to anybody. It’s a testament to the time Eric puts in to comply to their requirements. He takes it seriously, when they say, ‘you need to do this or do that.’”
Last year, 683 entities were awarded with the Auditor of State Award of about 6,000 entities that were audited by the state. “This is the second year in a row we have received the award,” said Dean. “We feel like this award affirms the city’s adherence to its internal policy and procedures which are designed to ensure that city funds are spent appropriately and judiciously. The State Auditor’s office annually recommends updates or areas of improvement to our procedures which we address in the following year, with the goal being to accurately reflect the city’s financial position on our annual report. Like all cities in Ohio, our annual report is posted to the State Auditor’s office website which can be found at https://ohioauditor.gov/auditsearch/Search.aspx.”
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer