State Auditor Surprised By Amount of Corruption

By JORDAN CRAVENS
March 16, 2010

It is taxpayers who foot the bill for white-collar crimes and fraud in government, according to Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor.

Taylor, the first certified public accountant to hold the auditor post, told the Findlay Rotary Club on Monday if such crimes aren't uncovered, "the potential cost for Ohioans is enormous."

"I knew coming into office that there would be accounting errors and miscalculations" by the government agencies audited by her office, she said. "What I didn't expect to find was this number of fraud and white-collar crimes."

To date, her office has helped prosecute and convict 48 criminals for such offenses, she said.

Taylor is in the running for lieutenant governor on the same Republican ticket as gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, but she did not address her run for the post Monday.

Since she took office as state auditor in 2007, audits have identified more than $30 million in misused or stolen public funds.

Citizens and co-workers have been integral in helping her office serve as a watchdog over government finances, she said.

A fraud hotline, launched when she came into office, has allowed citizens and co-workers to report potential offenses. More than 1,300 tips have been called in to the hotline, she said.

The Summit County resident told the gathering that while businesses have evolved greatly in terms of technology, government has been slow to change.

"Far too often, state and local governments operate like it's in the 1960s," she said.

When she came into office, she launched an initiative to use technology to make government more accountable, efficient and transparent.

"I was determined to be a 21st century auditor using 21st century technology," Taylor said.

She said she modernized her office, making audit reports available online, for example, and also changed the way government entities conduct their audit reporting.

Reports are now paperless and are processed through e-mail and the Internet, which has saved taxpayers an estimated $80,000 in postage, handling and printing costs in its startup year, she said.

Performance audits, which seek to increase efficiency of government, have saved millions in tax dollars, Taylor said.

So far in her term, she has conducted 87 performance audits and has made 2,800 recommendations to cut costs and streamline efforts, she said. 

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