Ogle County Board Chairman Kim Gouker
$13,675 remains unaccountable in the Ogle County tow fee fund involving the sheriff's department following a report done by a Naperville company.
Sikich LLP was hired for a cost of $15,000 to look into the tow fee funds between October 2011 and January of this year.
They learned of just over 500 tows during this time period. The report indicated very poor record keeping and that the ledger was inaccurate. Ogle County Sheriff Michael Harn was the only person who handled the deposits as the money as it was kept in a file cabinet.
James Sullivan from Sikich said that there is most likely more tows and fees that were done during this time period, but they have no records at this time.
Ogle County Board Chairman Kim Gouker of Byron was not happy with the results of the report. He said it was an unfortunate stain for the county and was surprised in the actions from Sheriff Harn.
The county board approved 3 recommendations from the Executive Committee last night. They included the return of over $61,700 into the General Fund from the tow fund which involved non-tow fees and to explore the legality of another county office to handle the tow fee payments in the future.
Gouker is not sure if they will ever see the missing money in the future
Sheriff Harn did not attend tonight's meeting. Sullivan said he was upset when he was told about the missing money in the tow fund.
Further action may be taken by the Ogle County Board in the future.
