Medina County Auditor Anthony Capretta: State audit must be accurate before release

In response to Medina County Commissioner Steve Hambley's disappointment regarding the delayed state audit, Medina County Auditor Anthony Capretta posted a news release on Friday to say the audit must be accurate before it's released. On Tuesday, Hambley talked about the county's unreleased state audit during the Medina County commissioners meeting, sharing his disappointment in Ohio Auditor Keith Faber's office for not making it available yet. At that time, Hambley said the exit conference was held, and there was an audit finding, along with findings for recovery regarding Capretta's negligence. Friday's news release stated that Hambley is playing politics and that he supports Capretta's opponent in the campaign for county auditor. The Medina County Auditor's Office stated in Friday's release that information presented during the exit interview required correction before the audit was finalized and that nothing secretive is happening with the state audit. "The state auditor has a responsibility to get this right, and we provided information both to the auditors and Medina County residents that there was an error to correct before finalizing the audit," Capretta said. "Commissioner Hambley has, sadly, shown no such commitment to accuracy here, wrongly criticizing State Auditor Keith Faber and misrepresenting my actions as county auditor." In mid-February, Capretta provided a news release regarding a finding in the state audit of Medina County's books. The release states that a draft letter issued in January indicated that the audit revealed an issue with benefit administration payments to Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America. During the reviewed period, more than $1 million in insurance premiums were processed, the February release stated. The draft finding identified $11,934 in payments made for personnel who were no longer employed by the county. After an internal review, the Medina County Auditor's Office staff found that the amount probably would increase to about $15,000, due to an omitted month in the state audit's findings. Additionally, the Medina County Auditor's Office stated in the February release that the benefit administration function is not a statutory responsibility of the county auditor's office. On Dec. 23, the Medina County commissioners passed a resolution, amending the table of organization for the county's human resources department to include a benefits coordinator position. In response to Friday's release, Hambley said the allegations of his motivations being political are argumentative, and rather, he intended to get the report out as soon as possible. "I'm still disappointed we still haven't seen the final release of the audit," Hambley said. "I mean, there's been a lot of talk for over a month about releasing it. In fact, there was talk back in January about a time frame to release it." Contact reporter Sara Crawford at (330) 721-4063 or scrawford@medina-gazette.com.