Feds join Clerk of Court pile-on with county bank account levy
BY TERRY SCHMIDA
Just when it looked like things couldn’t possibly get any worse for the battered county Clerk of Court Amy Heavilin comes news that sloppy bookkeeping has resulted in $5,500 in fines against her agency by the dreaded federal Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS recently levied a county government bank account following the Clerk of Court’s failure to cough up about $5,500 in fines resulting from the office’s failure to file an IRS Form 941, listing employees’ Medicare and tax withholdings, and wages on time, in January of last year.
According to Assistant County Attorney Cynthia Hall the fines were paid by the county clerk’s office, resulting in the removal of the levy. However, Hall said, Heavilin’s office then actually managed to overpay the fines to the tune of $1,000, which it is currently waiting to have refunded.
“To the best of my knowledge, the statutory penalty was imposed by the IRS as the result of a two-day late filing of a quarterly tax return back in 2014,” Hall said. “It is my understanding that the clerk’s office contested the fine or penalty but ultimately the IRS imposed or issued a notice of levy, and it was very shortly thereafter paid in 2015.”
The IRS cock-up would be embarrassing enough on its own, but coming so soon on the heels of second consecutive bad audit of the agency, eyebrows are almost certain to be raised in the corridors of county power.
The beleaguered clerk’s office oversees court records and is responsible for making sure the county finances are handled properly and employees are paid on time. But a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report released in late March by an Orlando-based certified public accounting company blamed unusually high staff turnover at the office for declining effectiveness at the key county government agency. Dozens of employees – including four finance directors – have bailed on Heavilin since she assumed the elected post in January of 2013, leading to numerous issues with county credit cards and worker payment snafus.
This time around the Clerk of Court received a several “material weakness” deficiencies, the worst of three possible grades of shortcomings auditors list. Similar findings were recorded in another audit last fiscal year.
[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]
No Comment