By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LIBERTY TWP. - Fired Township Administrator Barry Tiffany has repaid $233.87, as ordered by the state auditor, for misusing a township cell phone.

Ohio Auditor Betty Montgomery also criticized the township's accounting policies in the review of 2001-02 finances, but did not order any other restitution to be made. The audit was released Thursday.

Tiffany, fired Jan. 5 for giving his girlfriend a township cell phone in October, made restitution April 27 for the phone purchase and three months of Nextel service, according to the audit.

Township Clerk Roger Reynolds had estimated in January that Tiffany owed the township at least $722 for the phone. He also requested the state audit of accounts controlled by Tiffany during his 13 months as zoning supervisor, acting administrator and administrator.

No other financial abuses by Tiffany were found by the state, according to the report.

Since Tiffany's dismissal, this Butler County township has adopted a comprehensive policy on proper use of township telephones, e-mail, voice mail and computers, and created a master list of township cell phones. Both were recommended in the state audit.

Auditors also said the township needed better controls over expenses, payroll and other financial records.

The report said that 25 percent of the expenditures reviewed by the state were done without a purchase order.

Two expenditures under former Clerk Barb Jones on Dec. 31, 2002, exceeded appropriations, resulting in a $2.47 million deficit in the capital projects road improvement fund and a $59,000 deficit in the police fund. Reynolds described them as journal entry errors.

"It's certainly an area we need to improve on," Reynolds said. "Overall, it was a good audit."

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com