toledoblade.com --

COLUMBUS - If the state of Ohio were a local government or school district, State Auditor Mary Taylor would have declared it unauditable and started imposing fines by now.

Instead, there's little more the Republican auditor can do than complain, knowing that by the time the books are officially closed on what the state collected and spent in fiscal year 2008, the state budget for 2010 and 2011 will probably already be law.

"How will the governor know where to go fiscally if he doesn't know where he's been?'' asked Ms. Taylor.

Gov. Ted Strickland is currently pushing a $54 billion budget for the next two years, but his administration has yet to turn over the numbers for fiscal year 2008 for the required annual audit. The fiscal year ended June 30, 2008, but, 246 days later, as fiscal year 2009 nears its end, Ms. Taylor is still waiting.

The only Republican currently holding statewide executive office, Ms. Taylor said the numbers are typically available within six months of the close of a fiscal year and audits are usually completed by the following spring.

"The governor's concerned about the delay, and he's asked [his Office of Budget and Management] and other agencies to pull the information together as quickly as possible," said Strickland spokesman Amanda Wurst.

"Nonetheless, he understands that state agencies are completing financial reporting for the first time using a new accounting system," she said. "Thousands of financial reports are being pulled by dozens of agencies, which takes time, as the auditor recognized."

The state has been gradually phasing in a massive new computerized accounting and payroll system, the Ohio Administrative Knowledge System.

Ms. Taylor said she's been told the numbers won't be forthcoming until June. Her office will need about 14 weeks to complete the annual audit once the numbers are received.

"The delay we have experienced to date and the additional delay we've been told to expect appear to be unprecedented," she said. "It's most certainly troubling."

Forty villages, townships, schools, and other government entities are currently on the unauditable list. Local entities have deadlines ranging from 60 to 150 days after the end of a fiscal year to turn over financial statements for mandatory annual audits. Such entities can be fined $25 per day up to a maximum of $750.

State funding for charter schools is cut off immediately under state law when they are declared unauditable.

Ms. Taylor said she was concerned that further delays might endanger the state's credit rating, currently the second-best rating available.

"Now is not the time to delay reporting important financial information to Ohioans," said Ms. Taylor. "We face an extraordinary budget deficit, the highest unemployment rate in over 20 years, and an unprecedented federal bailout. The governor must assure Ohioans he is serious about accountability and transparency and that their tax dollars are being spent legally and appropriately."

Some lawmakers have questioned the Strickland administration's calculations in the current budget proposal, particularly when it comes to his new school-funding formula.

Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.

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