State Officials are offering some advice to the city of Armstrong, where five officials were accused of bilking the community out of thousands of dollars and destroying financial records. State Auditor Rob Sand has issued a report, citing 22 accounting issues in the city during the 12-month budgeting year that ended June 30th of 2023.
In 2017, a special investigation of Armstrong city accounts found at least $100,000 worth of deposits and payments had been mishandled. The town’s former mayor, three former city clerks and its former police chief were all accused of wrongdoing and have pleaded guilty to misconduct, but none were sent to prison. The state auditor says CPAs in his office have raised concerns about how checks written to the City of Armstrong AND checks written on city accounts are handled.
One of the city’s debit cards was opened in the name of a city employee, using that employee’s Social Security number.
The state auditor’s office reviewed three sets of minutes from Armstrong City Council meetings that did not list city receipts or bills the city owed.
Last month, a former mayor of Armstrong was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to tampering with records and misconduct in office.
