Why Forest Hill's Audit Should Matter To You

Vol. III, No. 279 - Ohio's State Auditor Has Something to Say About the Union Cemetery

Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash

Forest Hill Union Cemetery is where families expect long‑term care for departed loved ones, not long‑term problems. A new state audit shows that the cemetery’s finances and oversight have fallen short of that expectation.​

The Ohio Auditor of State recently completed a regular audit of the Forest Hill Union Cemetery for 2022 and 2023. The audit outlines seven separate findings, including mismanaged funds, weak internal controls, and overpayments that now require formal “findings for recovery.” Some of these same issues were flagged in a 2021 audit and still were not corrected.​

Forest Hill is operated under an uncommon “union cemetery” structure. It is not a city department, and it is not a township department. Instead, a three‑member board made up of one appointee from the city of Piqua, one from Washington Township, and one at‑large member oversees the operation.​

Most cemeteries in Ohio are clearly assigned to either a city or a township. Forest Hill’s shared model can blur responsibility: the responsiiblites are shared, each local government is represented, but the accountability line back to residents is not as clear. That lack of clarity may help explain why serious financial weaknesses were allowed to repeat from one audit cycle to the next.​

The state’s report groups the problems into three main areas: the trust fund, the financial records, and compliance with basic rules.​

1. Perpetual care funds without clear rules.
   Forest Hill holds a “Perpetual Care Fund” of about 131,000 dollars, made up of wills, bequests, and donations meant to support specific grave sites. Auditors report that the cemetery could not provide the original documents showing the origin and purpose of many of these funds. Some gifts called for annual flowers or special maintenance, yet no expenditures have been charged to the fund since 2018. Because of the missing records, auditors could not determine whether this money belongs in a private trust fund, the general fund, or some other type of fund at all.​

2. Financial statements with major errors.
   In 2022 and 2023, the cemetery’s financial statements contained significant misstatements in both revenues and expenses. Items such as taxes, charges for services, lot sales, and investment income were recorded in the wrong amounts or categories. In 2022, these errors caused the reported cash balance in the main operating fund to be overstated by more than 114,000 dollars. The cemetery also failed to prepare basic documentation to support the figures reported.​

3. Bank accounts that were not regularly reconciled.
   Over the two‑year audit period, monthly bank reconciliations were completed for only five out of 24 months. The account holding the perpetual care funds was not reconciled for 20 of those months and was left out of the accounting system at the end of 2023. In the December 2023 reconciliation, deposits that had already cleared the bank were still listed as “uncleared,” which undermines the purpose of the process.​

In addition, the audit documents multiple “findings for recovery” where employees were overpaid through excessive leave carryover, unauthorized overtime, or payroll calculation mistakes, and where the cemetery incurred late fees and penalties because it failed to submit tax and retirement payments on time. These late fees were labeled “gross negligence” by the Auditor of State because they served no public purpose and could have been avoided.​

These findings are civil, not criminal, but they still carry real consequences for local taxpayers and donors. Money that should have gone toward mowing, upkeep, and long‑term maintenance was instead tied up in errors, overpayments, and penalties. Donors who believed they were funding the care of specific graves cannot be certain their instructions have been followed. Families who expect perpetual care do not have a clear line of sight to how those obligations are being met.​

It is especially concerning that material weaknesses in the trust fund and in basic financial reporting were identified in 2021 and then repeated in the 2022‑2023 audit. When the same problems are restated across audits, it signals not just a technical mistake but a deeper and inexcusable breakdown in oversight and follow‑through.​

The Auditor of State has recommended that the cemetery strengthen its accounting system, reconcile all bank accounts monthly, and maintain proper records for all bequests and donations. The report also urges cemetery officials to seek legal guidance on how to properly classify and use the perpetual care funds, and to adopt and follow clear policies for employee leave and overtime.​

For a shared‑governance entity like Forest Hill, meaningful change will require more than a new software program. It requires the city and the township to take joint ownership of the problems identified, correct past mistakes, and put in place durable controls so these findings are not repeated in the next audit. Cemeteries are core public services, and the people who fund them and rely on them deserve nothing less than steady stewardship and full transparency.​

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