FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Korn Demands Wagner Do What the Law Requires

Wilmington, DE – October 18, 2010. Democratic candidate for State Auditor of Accounts Richard Korn today called upon 21 year incumbent Tom Wagner to explain why he has not audited local school district funds and state agencies as is required by state law.

Korn's statement is below.

For additional information contact Richard Korn at (302) 468-6363.

Statement by Richard Korn Democratic Candidate for State Auditor October 18, 2010

On Thursday night October 13th at the Wild Meadows Home Owners Association, Tom Wagner stated “I promise I will always tell you the truth”. I am sure Mr. Wagner is a man of his word; therefore, I am asking him to explain why he has not audited local school district funds as he is required to do by state law.

Title 29, Section 2906 (f) of the Delaware Code, states that the Auditor of Accounts shall audit local school district tax funds budgets and expenditures annually. The law is clear. Local school district tax funds are required to be audited every year.

Over the last 10 years, $4,087,433,286 of local school district funds were not audited as required by law. How many taxpayer dollars could have been saved if these funds had been audited?

In the Laurel School district over $150,000 was stolen over 8 years. Local funds pay local school district salaries, including the salaries of officials such as the Finance Director at Laurel. Had local school district funds been audited, there would have been a greater probability that the 8 year theft that occurred in Laurel would have been discovered.

The incumbent auditor will probably state that local school funds are covered by the Federal Single Audit Act. [1] However, this Act applies only to state agencies that receive over $500,000 in federal funds and this law does not exempt the State Auditor from complying with state law, which mandates that he audit local school funds annually.

Furthermore, the Federal Single Audit Act does not exempt the State Auditor from the requirement that he audit every state agency no less frequently than biannually as is required by state law (Title 29, Section 2906 (a)). Those agencies that receive no federal funds, such as the Department of Insurance, are required to be audited biannually but are not audited and have not been audited for years.

This campaign is about complying with the law and living up to one's oath of office and the 21 year incumbent State Auditor is not doing either.

How many millions of taxpayers' dollars are being wasted because Tom Wagner is not doing what he is required to do?

When I am sworn in as Auditor of Accounts, I will fulfill my oath of office, spend every day abiding by the law and will account to the taxpayers of Delaware on how our government is spending their money.

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[1] Office of Federal Financial Management Single Audit. All non-Federal entities that expend $500,000 or more of Federal awards in a year ($300,000 for fiscal year ending on or before December 30, 2003) are required to obtain an annual audit in accordance with the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996 (pdf), OMB Circular A-133, the OMB Circular Compliance Supplement and Government Auditing Standards. A single audit is intended to provide a cost-effective audit for non-Federal entities in that one audit is conducted in lieu of multiple audits of individual programs.