LORDSTOWN, Ohio - Unbalanced books have resulted in a $1,640 finding for recovery against Lordstown Village Treasurer George Ebling.

The findings were issued Tuesday following the release of Lordstown’s 2019 state audit.

State auditors say public money was spent illegally, resulting in findings issued against Ebling and Ebling’s bonding company, Midwest Trumco Insurance Agency.

According to the Auditor of State’s Office, during 2018 and 2019 Ebling prepared bank versus book reconciliations each month that were presented to the Clerk and Finance Committee as being reconciled. However, these reconciliations were not always complete and accurate.

The Village Clerk’s office notified Treasurer Ebling’s office of the differences throughout both years, but the Treasurer did not always respond to the notifications nor investigate the differences in order for the book balances to be completely reconciled to the adjusted balances, according to the state audit.

The Village Treasurer is responsible for reconciling the book balance to the total bank balance monthly, and the Village Clerk and Council are responsible for reviewing the reconciliations and related support.

State auditors concluded that total fund balances exceeded the adjusted bank balances in the amounts of $6,076 and $6,509, respectively.

 Failure to reconcile monthly increases the possibility that the Village will not be able to identify, assemble, analyze, classify, and record its transactions correctly or to document compliance with finance related legal and contractual requirements, according to a media release from the state auditor.

In addition, the lack of accurate monthly reconciliations increases the risk of theft or fraud and could lead to inaccurate reporting in the annual financial statements.

Last month, Ebling provided auditors with an updated reconciliation that showed total fund balances exceeded the adjusted bank balances in the amount of $1,648.