State audit seeks $3,514 from former Knox Township fiscal officer

The Ohio Auditor of State has ordered a $3,514.06 recovery from former Knox Township Fiscal Officer Teresa Weaver after late payroll withholding payments caused penalties and fees to pile up on township money.

Auditors said the problem came from payments that should have gone to the Internal Revenue Service, the Ohio Department of Taxation and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. Weaver served as Knox Township fiscal officer from April 2020 through December 2022, and the township’s financial audit covered January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2023. The finding for recovery was issued Tuesday, April 14, 2026.

The state auditor’s office said late payment fees, penalties and interest caused by gross negligence are illegal expenditures and do not serve a proper public purpose. In plain terms, the township paid extra because required payroll-related money was not sent on time, and state auditors concluded those added costs should not have been borne by taxpayers in the first place.

The recovery order names Weaver and her bonding company as jointly and severally liable. That gives the state two paths to seek repayment, from the former fiscal officer, the surety bond company, or both. Whether the full amount is collected will depend on how the finding is enforced, but the order itself shows the state expects the loss to be repaid rather than written off.

The Knox Township review is classified as a financial audit, and the state auditor’s report detail page marks it as a finding for recovery case. The auditor’s office says it reviews more than 5,900 state and local government agencies across Ohio, using those audits to catch missing payments, weak controls and other lapses before they grow into larger losses.

The Knox Township case lands in a county that has already seen serious township oversight problems. A 2023 special audit of nearby Vinton Township found more than $310,000 in misappropriated township expenses and led to criminal charges, a guilty plea, prison time and restitution. For Vinton County residents, the latest finding is smaller in dollar terms, but it points to the same core question: whether township offices are keeping up with basic financial controls before avoidable costs hit local taxpayers.