Huntington Township accepts 2023 audit, approves pay changes and reimbursement policies

Huntington Township officials accepted the township’s 2023 audit, approved several administrative items including personnel pay adjustments and reimbursement practices, and retained the current slate of officers for 2025.

The township’s auditors presented the final 2023 audit and signed the report during the meeting; the document was stamped with the Huntington Township seal by Pat Davis. A motion to accept the minutes was made by Cindy Hahnemann and seconded by Laura Hoke. A separate motion to accept the audit report was made and seconded (movers recorded in the meeting transcript as Laura Hoke and Ken Foster); the auditors then signed and sealed the report.

Why it matters: Audit acceptance completes a formal financial review for 2023 and clears the auditors to deliver their supervisory report at the next supervisor meeting. Several administrative measures voted or agreed on at the meeting affect payroll, mileage reimbursement, bonding and tax-collection timing, and could affect road maintenance staffing costs.

Board business and supervisor recommendations Township members voted to keep the current officers for 2025 (chairman, secretary and other positions to remain as currently constituted). The board considered supervisor recommendations on hourly wages for road personnel. The meeting record indicates a proposal to reduce some workers’ pay to $15 per hour; that change was discussed and seconded during the meeting. The transcript indicates part-time status applies to some road staff. Attendees discussed specific hourly figures for particular drivers: the transcript references prior wages of $21.64, $27.11 and $26.00 and later references raising some rates to $28.50, $28.00 and $20.85 for certain drivers, while others would be reduced to $15. The meeting record does not include a formal tabulated roll-call vote for each wage change.

Reimbursement, bonding and grant status Trustees agreed to set the township’s mileage reimbursement to coincide with the federal mileage reimbursement rate; the transcript records that decision but does not present a clear numerical per-mile amount in the meeting text. The board also discussed the township’s treasury/bond level and chose to keep it the same as the prior year. During discussion members noted uncertainty about timing of a state reimbursement related to a culvert project: the transcript references $122,000 in expected reimbursement and that about $90,000 has already been spent on the culvert out of an approximate $400,000 project, but does not show a formal appropriation tied to that figure at the meeting.

Tax collection and deadlines Attendees discussed the tax-collector books and scheduling; the meeting record notes the township’s filing deadlines tied to state rules, and a participant stated that April 1 is the deadline set by the state. The transcript indicates some coordination remains outstanding with the tax collector (referred to in the meeting as Roxie).

Procedural notes Auditors gave an open discussion and were scheduled to present a supervisor report at the next supervisor meeting on May 9, 2024, at 7 p.m., according to the meeting record. Several motions were made and seconded as noted above; however, the meeting transcript does not provide roll-call tallies for those motions. The auditors present signed the approved audit report and the document was stamped with the Huntington Township seal by Pat Davis.

Ending Trustees adjourned after completing the administrative items on the agenda. Several items—including the precise payroll adjustments and the timing/amount of state reimbursements for the culvert—remain subject to later accounting and clarification at subsequent meetings.