The Jackson County Tribune online (Tribtown) reports that former Brownstown, Indiana Clerk-treasurer, Rebecca Fee, was sentenced to 33 months for fraud. Ms. fee stole nearly $370,000 from Brownstown taxpayers over a period of about 4 years by overpaying herself. The theft was found through a state audit.
Really?
I don’t know what the salary is for the elected position of Clerk-treasurer in Brownstown, (I’m guessing it’s less than $40k a year, or at least close to that amount), so I simply can’t understand why it took a state audit to figure out that SOMETHING was terribly wrong! I can promise you this — if I overpaid myself to the tune of approximately $92,500 a YEAR, it would be noticed. And, it wouldn’t take 4 years or the eyes of an outside audit either!
Tribtown reports that District Judge Richard L. Young said before sentencing, ““This a crime of greed, I think we can agree to that.”
No, Judge — I don’t agree.
This wasn’t only a crime of greed — it was a crime of negligence, ignorance and apathy — and not all of the guilty parties are going to pay for their crimes. According to Tribtown, Fee said she was able to steal the money by altering payroll documents. Town councilman, Steve Phillips, said Fee was able to hide her actions from the council for years because members trusted her. But is that what the taxpayers elected them to do? Of course not.
When regular people like me pay bills, we look at what we have coming in, and we look at what we have going out. Since it’s our money, we are concerned and interested in those things. Officials are elected to an office to represent us — me and you. In turn, we expect them to take the same interest over taxpayer dollars that they would if it was their money. Right?
My son’s name is on my checking account. I trust him 100%. That doesn’t mean I don’t look at bank statements. I’ve learned it’s ok to take off your shoes if you need help to add and subtract!
😉
I guess I don’t think the council’s apology and saying they’re embarrassed is enough. It certainly wasn’t enough for Ms. Fee. So when and how do we begin to make officials accountable too?