Wayne Co. audit finds fault.
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Apr. 5–The penalty for helping create a budget headache that has cost Wayne County taxpayers $1.5 million? Promotion to a new job as chief operating officer. That’s what Wayne County’s former chief financial officer, Bella Marshall, got after violating basic accounting principles when she carried over an $11-million deficit in the county’s 2003 child care fund budget into the 2004 fiscal year, according to auditors who are still trying to untangle the mess. A forensic audit of what Marshall and other county officials did in 2003 now involves three accounting firms and three law firms. So far the audit has cost county taxpayers more than $2 million — $510,000 for a routine annual review and another $1.5 million in special analytical expenses. Aside from accounting fees, much of that extra money went for computer experts who tried to retrieve critical e-mail messages on how to account for the deficit. Marshall could not produce certain documents, according to a copy of the audit report obtained by the Free Press. Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano said Marshall has accepted responsibility for the missteps, and he removed her from her position as CFO last month because of the accounting irregularities uncovered by auditors. “What we do with all department heads is we… |