Updated 9/19/2019 7:13pm
The Southern Ohio Port Authority (SOPA) didn't give the mandatory documents allowing the State to conduct its biannual audit, State Auditor Keith Faber stated Tuesday.
SOPA, the organization responsible to promote economic development in Scioto County, failed to have the specified financial records accessible. It had not submitted financial statements (or footnotes) for the fiscal years ending in 2017 and 2018. The port authority has 90 days to revise its records and submit it to the State Auditor, or it could face legal proceeding.
Financial records should be organized and completed so taxpayers stay privy of State spending. Faber said, “Our local government services team is ready to help should the authority need assistance correcting these deficiencies.”
If SOPA fails to produce the documents, over the next 90 ninety days, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has the legal authority to issue a subpoena that will force them to disclose all records required for an audit. He might, additionally, file a suit compelling SOPA to provide the documents.
At the present time, the State Auditor has declared SOPA as “unauditable.” Once the audit is completed and made available to the general public, it'll be taken off that list.
SCDN EXCLUSIVE UPDATE
The reporter embedded on that "beat" is in Columbus and got SOPA's responsibilities wrong. The story has appeared in hundreds of news outlets from Cleveland to Indianapolis to Huntington. But, this story is about our town. So we want the FACTS to be more accurate.
According to a local government official; " SOPA is not responsible for economic development in Scioto County. The Scioto County Economic Development Dept is and has been since late 2017. SOPA is a bonding and land transfer agency. Nothing more, nothing less. "
In addition, a clarification was made concerning these filings. " Documents were submitted in 2017 and 2018. But, it seems, entered incorrectly on their system. SOPA has a CPA working on it."
The local government official went on to say, "The announcement came to a shock to SOPA as they thought all was well. The wording from Faber, in my opinion, was pretty heavy handed given the lack of details (shared with) the public as to what the specific issues were. It made it sound like they did something illegal. They made a mistake in filing. It can be fixed in the 90 days allotted."
Our thanks to the government official for the clarification. This story is about OUR TOWN, so it needs to be PERFECTLY CLEAR. These details don't matter to a reader in Indianapolis, but the are very important to us.
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