by
Cris Ritchie
Editor
Hazard Herald (Ky)
HAZARD – The Perry County Fiscal Court has filed suit against Perry County Clerk Haven King in an attempt to collect thousands of dollars of what the state auditor’s office termed as “disallowed expenditures” in the clerk’s office over a three-year period.
Kentucky Auditor Adam Edelen in March released an audit of the 2010 financial statement of the county clerk’s office in which auditors found that King should personally repay $29,290 to the county for disallowed expenses in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Some of those expenditures, according to previous audits, included $6,100 in 2008 for charities set up to aid veterans, and nearly $4,000 in what auditors termed “political expenses” stemming from a letter writing campaign to members of the General Assembly.
King said on Tuesday that he is aware of the suit, and he will make a response.
“The lawsuit has been filed, and I received a copy of it,” he said. “I’ll be responding to it.”
The complaint was filed on behalf of the fiscal court on June 12, and noted that according to state law, the fiscal court is required to collect “any amount(s) due as determined by the auditor,” and claimed thus far that the county has been unable to collect those funds without filing a lawsuit.
“Haven feels that he don’t owe it, and the auditors say he does,” Judge-Executive Denny Ray Noble commented. “We’re going to let the circuit judge decide.”