Hamilton County Courthouse
Two Hamilton County constitutional officers spent too much last year on salaries, one officer has reportedly been violating bank agreements by charging fees for taking credit card payments, and computer errors have caused accounting bloopers for the county’s various clerks, an audit released Thursday states.
Of the eight fee-collecting constitutional offices audited, five had reported bookkeeping issues.
The audit for the 2012 fiscal year, completed by Decosimo Certified Public Accountants in cooperation with County Auditor Bill McGriff, found problems with the ways Clerk & Master S. Lee Akers, Sheriff Jim Hammond, Criminal Court Clerk Gwen Tidwell, Circuit Court Clerk Paula Thompson and Trustee Bill Hullander are running their shops.
In most cases, the auditors’ findings were corrected in December, shortly after the audit was performed. Most findings reported clerical oversights or faulty computer systems. But in some cases — such as with Akers — few to no changes have been made.
CLERK & MASTER