The Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, the state’s auditors, did a review of the financial records of Sheriff Joe Benison for the 5 year and seven month period of October 1, 2018 to April 30, 2024, which found numerous problems in record keeping and inadequate or no supporting documentation to back up disbursements mostly from the Bingo Fund of close to 5 million dollars.
Rachel Laurie Riddle, Chief Examiner for the State of Alabama, held a hearing on the 12th of September to review the report and relieved the Office of the Sheriff of Greene County of $370,383.08 of expenses for which he provided documentation, out of $5.3 million, he was charged with, in the original report. This left $4,966,427.69 which the Sheriff “has failed to show just cause why the remaining charges should not be paid, therefore relief from these charges are denied,” a quote from the Chief Examiners Order.
The Chief Examiner referred her report to the local district attorney, Rachel England of the 17th Judicial District (Greene, Sumter and Marengo counties) and to The State Attorney General for any legal charges to be filed against Sheriff Joe Benison for his actions.
This 2024 audit report also references prior audits in 2014 and 2018 of the sheriff’s Office, which had some of the same general findings, which have not been corrected, but the largest problems are with the Bingo Fund, which the Sheriff used to receive payments from licensed bingo parlor charities and disburse them to community agencies, for the benefit of people in Greene County.
The 2024 audit examined a dozen funds administered by the Sheriff’s office, including General Office Account, Municipal Inmate Feeding Account, Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Fund, Sheriff’s Jail Store Fund, Prisoners’ Money on Deposit Fund, Sheriff’s Jail Law Enforcement Fund, Junior Deputies Fund, Equitable Sharing Fund, Process Serving Fund, Jail Food Fund, Prisoner Feeding Fund, and Bingo Fund.
The findings of the audit were: Finding 001: the fund accounts examined had not been reconciled to the cashbook monthly as required by state law. As a result, an accurate, reconciled bank balance was not available. The report indicates that the same findings were made in the 2014 and 2018 audits and not corrected.
Audit Finding 002 says state law requires the Sheriff to keep cashbooks, which reflect all financial activities of the office. The cashbooks should reflect the source of all amounts received and reflect disbursements that are maid. The finding says the Sheriff’s Office cashbooks were not properly maintained for each fund and receipts and disbursements were not properly categorized., The same finding was made in the audits of 2014 and 2018.
Audit Finding 003: in the handling of funds, the Sheriff’s Office did not have procedures in place to handle, receipt and deposit funds on a timely basis. The auditors could not determine that cash receipts were adequately accounted for and deposited in a timely manner. Receipts were not written for Sex Offender Fees, Deposits were not made on a timely basis and Pistol permit cash collections were not properly reconciled to deposits> This made it difficult for auditors to determine all money collected was deposited. The same findings were reported in 2014 and 2018.
Audit Finding 004: says the code of Alabama is clear that the Sheriff must maintain records of all disbursements with supporting evidence and specify when he uses funds for purposes not specifically allowed by law. This finding specifies that:
• $16,226.97 in expenses from various funds with no supporting documentation.
• $3,159,031.48 in payments made to employees of the Sheriff’s Department, in addition to payments made to employees for their salaries paid by the Greene County Commission. These payments were placed on Form 1099 to each employee. A list of the employees who received these payments is reflected in a chart from the auditor’s report on page 8 of this newspaper. The auditors allege no supporting documentation or legal justification for these payments.
• $2,161,552.32 in payments, of which $1,179,252.61 was paid to consultants and attorneys for professional services. The rest of the money was paid to merchants, individuals, hotels, restaurants and other businesses. Again, the auditors assert that that inadequate or no supporting documentation is made for these expenses. As a result, these expenses were charged back to the Sheriff Benison to explain, document or reimburse.
Audit Finding 005: says that The Sheriff violated the Constitution of Alabama for the disbursement of bingo funds for purposes not specified in the Constitution.
The examiners report contains pages of accounting information which they developed to reach and substantiate their findings.
The Democrat made many efforts to reach Sheriff Benison for his response to the State Examiners report and request for justification, documentation or reimbursement of almost $5 million in public funds.
Just before press time, the Sheriff issued this statement in response to the audit.
“It is regrettable that, in the face of documentation justifying the millions of dollars of expenditures made to improve the lives of the citizens of Greene County, the vendetta of the forces in Montgomery continues. Less than a year ago, the litigation waged by the Attorney General for seven years ended with the reaffirmation of my role under the Constitution as the sole regulator of bingo in Greene County.
Now, here we go again: The Examiners of Public Accounts have now issued a report questioning the expenditure of money for, among other things, the scholarships paid to every Greene County high school senior and the payments made to the deputies who protect and serve our county. They should be ashamed. I didn’t back down when they sued me, and I won’t back down now.”