State Auditor Finds Steele City Mishandled 150th Celebration Funds

By Gordon HopkinsThe Nebraska Auditor of Public Accounts (APA) has responded to claims that grants intended for the Village of Steele City’s 150th anniversary celebration ended up in a private checking account. While the auditor did not find a reason to conduct a full financial audit, a letter to the Village Board of Steele City dated October 21, 2024, Deputy Auditor Craig Kubicek, CPA, CFE, wrote, “APA noted a certain issue that merits corrective action.” On September 16 and 17, 2023, the village held a celebration to commemorate its 150 year anniversary. As part of the celebration, the village planned to host several different activities over the course of the weekend, including a car show, bake sale and a tractor pull.In order to help pay for the event, the village applied for, and was awarded, several different grants under the names “Village of Steele City,” “Steele City 150 Celebration Committee,” and “Village of Steele City DBA Steele City 150th Celebration Committee.”The APA looked at two bank accounts into which the grants paid to the Village were deposited for the period January 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024. According to the APA letter, “It is important to note that neither of these accounts appear on the Village’s 2023-2024 budget, nor were they accounted for on the Village’s audit waiver request filed with our office for fiscal year 2023. Rather, both accounts appear to have been created and controlled exclusively by Angela Sullivan.” Sullivan is the board chair.The letter also noted, “Because neither of the accounts opened by Angela Sullivan at Pinnacle Bank appear to have been under municipal control, none of the payments made from them – before, during, or after the 150th anniversary celebration – went through the Board’s claim approval process.”A total of $22,131.50 were deposited into those accounts.The village responded to the APA, “After review, all items, and purchases, were confirmed by the celebration committee.”One of the accounts opened by Sullivan had a negative balance for a total of 20 days, resulting in $124 of overdraft charges. The auditor cited this as one example of the need for oversight of spending, “Good internal controls require procedures to ensure that Village funds are not spent on overdraft fees incurred by bank accounts not under municipal control.”As a result of the concerns raised over how the grant funds were handled, the APA began what it called “limited preliminary planning work” to determine if a full financial audit or attestation would be warranted. The APA determined that “ a separate financial audit or attestation is unnecessary at this time.”

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