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If you have a tip about government waste, email I-Team editor Brian Kollars at Brian.Kollars@coxinc.com, or call our I-Team tipline at (937) 225-2251.
Recent state audits have shed light on alleged misspending in two tiny Darke County governments.
The village of North Star, for example, over-paid two village fiscal officers and a village councilmember at the same time the village books were kept in disarray, the state auditor’s office found.
The audit says fiscal officer Carolyn Wilker was paid $750 more than her $5,000 salary in 2012 and 2013, and fiscal officer Jessica Schmackers was paid $450 over her $5,000 salary in 2012. Also, village council member Shawn Wehrkamp was paid $70 for a meeting he didn’t attend.
All three officials reimbursed the village.
The same audit noted other bookkeeping problems, such as overstated receipts and disbursements and expenditures in excess of available money for several funds.
And accounting problems uncovered in an audit of the Tri-Village Joint Ambulance District included over-paying the district administrator by $512.
The audit says he was supposed to be paid $512 a month to cover medical insurance, but he was paid $256 bi-weekly, leading to the overpayment.
Inspector sent photos to dad’s business
An Ohio Department of Natural Resources oil and natural gas well inspector “gave rise to questions of impartiality and objectivity” by providing photos of a potential project to his father’s well repair business and inspecting wells that his father’s company worked on.
This is according to a report this month from the Ohio Inspector General, which recommended changes to distance the employee, Benjamin Harpster, from his father’s business, Bradner Oil of Wayne, Ohio.
Bradner Oil did not bid on the work that Harpster sent the photos for, but the photos were not sent to any other company.
There also was no evidence Harpster gave preferential treatment to wells that his father’s company completed.
But inspectors worried the issue could carry “appearances of impropriety.”
Cutting erectile pumps could save $444M
Legislation pending before Congress would block Medicare Parts B and D from paying for vacuum pumps to treat erectile dysfunction until the program also covers erectile dysfunction drugs such as Viagra. A prohibition for covering such drugs was created in 2013.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated the change could trim federal healthcare spending by $444 million.
This follows a 2013 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General that found the feds were paying "grossly excessive" prices for the pumps compared to private sector costs.
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