Published: September 24, 2008 02:21 pm            

Ex-Sheriff Makes an Accounting

To Citizens of McCreary County:

I feel you need to know where your money goes and how it is spent.

So, I would like to expand on the recent news article concerning why I had to pay back $2,873 to the county.

The county paid me $1,234 too much on my first check when I was elected as sheriff of McCreary County. After bringing this matter to the attention of the proper authorities, I was told that they base the sheriff’s pay on a two-week pay period and that it would all equal out by the end of the year.

My clerk, Connie Swain’s, insurance was paid through June 2007, which was $1,614. A donation of $25 was made to the Sheriff’s Ranch for Kids. I wrote a check to the sheriff’s office for a total of $2,873 as reimbursement for the alleged overpayment on my salary, the insurance for my clerk and the money for the Sheriff’s Ranch for Kids.

If the state auditors had completed their audit in a timely manner, I would not have had to reimburse the money paid out for my clerk’s insurance, and my audit would have been almost perfect. However, the auditors spent months after Judge David A. Tapp placed Gus Skinner in the sheriff’s office, and this expense accrued after that time. Therefore, I had to reimburse this money out of my own pocket.

There was also $9,800 in my “sheriff’s account” for which I was not allowed to transfer to the new sheriff until after the audit was complete, and I issued a check for that amount on Aug. 12, 2008.

In conclusion, if the auditors had conducted and completed their audit in a timely manner and not a year and a half later, my audit would have been nearly perfect. I would not have had to pay back my clerk’s insurance premium out of my own pocket and the sheriff’s account funds could have been turned over for the county’s use instead of just sitting in a bank account, unused.

Your public servant,

Randy Waters

        

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