A letter sent by a Lancaster-based consulting firm has informed Whitehall Township officials that missing files and “insufficient documentation” from the tax office have prevented an audit of the department, which came under scrutiny in 2019 after nearly $78,000 was discovered missing.

To comply with the Whitehall Township charter, an audit was required when Treasurer Tina Koren took the oath of office this January.

Due to past concerns about the treasurer’s office activities, Commissioner Jeff Warren introduced a bill in December 2021 that the tax office be independently audited each year. The vote passed 7-0.

It was announced during a January 2021 meeting of township commissioners that the township tax office had gone through a fraud investigation after irregularities were noticed in late June 2019.

An employee of the tax office had been placed on administrative leave following the irregular findings, it was reported. In a unanimous decision made by township officials and the township treasurer, the board of commissioners hired a private fraud investigation company, Buckno Lisicky and Company, of Allentown, to complete an investigation alongside the Whitehall Police Department and the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office.

Buckno Lisicky and Company revealed $77,992 in Whitehall school taxes and township garbage fees in 2018-19 could not be accounted for. Following this discovery, all current township employees were vetted and the employee that was placed on administrative leave was fired immediately, according to a report from the meeting.

In a January 2021 statement, the township board of commissioners said the tax office records indicated “certain real estate tax, per capita tax and garbage fees were received but not immediately deposited as required by the township charter.”

At this same January meeting, the board took a narrow vote of “no confidence” in Colleen Gober, the township treasurer at that time.

The audit was delayed until July when business consulting firm RKL attempted to complete an audit of the tax office.

RKL was unable to complete an audit “due to an extraordinary amount of missing files,” Commissioner Andy Roman said.

In a July 7 letter, RKL outlined the missing files needed to “obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion.”

Some of those files include 2021 bank deposit slips, bank reconciliations, check disbursements or canceled checks, the tax collector’s monthly reports, checkbooks and more. RKL noted the tax collector did not maintain any such documentation for many of these documents.

RKL obtained a deleted transaction report for 2021 with 59 deleted payment transactions. This report does not include any record of approval, documentation or reasoning, making their validity impossible to determine.

Passwords and computers were shared among the tax office, reportedly making it difficult to determine who performed which duties. Further, the tax collection processing room and storage rooms were both left unlocked without cameras during 2021.

RKL also noted that, with the tax collector rarely being present in office, checks were not deposited in a timely manner. Cash was also reportedly left in drawers, not complying with the no cash payment policy in 2021.

Currently, the board of commissioners has authorized Solicitor Jack Gross to start a new investigation that could be turned over to Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin, pending the outcome, according to Roman.