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MARYVILLE

KXCV-KRNW


News Brief

July 25, 2025

State Auditor Withholds Funds from Area Townships

Governments rely on bonds – essentially a voter-approved loan – in order complete projects and provide services.

A clerical error is preventing local communities from accessing essential bonds.

For KXCV, Gavin McGough attended a recent Meeting of the Nodaway County Commissioners, and has the details.

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 Representatives from the Atchison, Jackson, and Monroe Townships are gathered around the commissioner's table to pick apart an unexpected legal issue, which is holding up funds they depend on for road work. This is despite voter approval for the funds, which all passed last November with over 70% in favor. Addressing the room, Commissioner Chris Burns explains the state auditor Scott Fitzpatrick will not approve the bonds, so they cannot release the funds. 

 Burns says, "It's just due to a technicality that was brought to the auditor's office or the auditor found that the bonds weren't advertised on the exact days that they specify."

 For a bond issue to appear on a ballot, the county clerk's office is required to publicly post those bonds so voters can be informed. According to state statute, the posting must occur at two weeks before the election, and again, one week before the election. Clerk Melinda Patton submitted them to the Maryville forum to run, but because the paper publishes only once a week and not daily, the two postings technically did not fall within that two week window.

When the state auditor discovered the discrepancy, he took issue and refused to certify the bonds. The auditor's office has said it will not overlook the issue or grant an exception. The issue has come up in other rural communities in the state, which lack daily newspapers.

 Burns says, "But there's 23 counties this year that did not get their bond certified. That shows me there's a problem with how it's written and for them not to give a grace period now that they've recognized it. So, I mean that that makes it really tough, but we're gonna work through it."

 The missing bonds are for routine road work and equipment maintenance. The townships run some version of the bond every three years, and voters are used to seeing it come up.

In order to convince the auditor to release the funds, they'll have to put it back on the ballot during the next election and run the question all over again after the meeting. Burns says the whole thing might leave voters confused.

" It can be complicated for the voters to understand that they just passed this on an election, but the bonds are not certified by the auditor, so that money cannot be brought to their township. So it gets very convoluted. But, it's the only way I guess they're gonna allow the townships to receive that money is by running the election again.", Burns adds. 

 Burns says, the concern is that voters will hesitate to vote in favor this time around thinking it's a new bond, a new tax, rather than a rerunning of the prior issue.

The other problem facing townships, how to do this year's roadwork without the expected funding. It's a headache for those gathered here today, but the commissioners say they will stand by the townships and make sure the issue can be worked out.