Peabody broke law by not printing reports
Staff writer
Peabody violated state law when it failed to publish its annual treasurer’s report for two years.
An audit by Loyd Group revealed that the city did not file a report this January.
Mayor Catherine Weems admitted at a council meeting June 28 that Peabody did not file a report in 2024, either.
She chalked the lapse up to lack of staff and unbalanced books.
“There was no way I could have done it,” she said. “Nothing was even balanced for the year.”
City treasurer Deanna Baker, who began work in October, 2024, took responsibility for the misstep.
“Technically, yes, I was the treasurer and I failed to do it this year,” she said.
Asked whether the city did not publish a report because books weren’t balanced, Baker said: “I don’t really know how to answer that. I didn’t even really know that was something we were supposed to do.”
Peabody has had its fair share of employee vacancies in the last two years.
But a lack of staff is no excuse for not publishing reports, Kansas Policy Institute chief executive Dave Trabert said.
“It’s a legal obligation,” Trabert said. “Whoever is paying bills and preparing budgets has the capability to prepare a treasurer’s report.” (Peabody published its budget on schedule in 2024 and 2025.)
KSA 12–1608 requires third-class cities such as Peabody to publish a treasurer’s report in a local newspaper within 30 days of the new year.
KSA 12–1609 states that any treasurer violating KSA 12–1608 shall be charged with a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of $25 to $100, prison time of 30 to 90 days, or both.
The law last was modified in 1923; if the fines were adjusted for inflation, they would range from $480 to $1,920.
County Attorney Michelle Brown said she would investigate the lapse if it formally was brought to her attention.
“If a law enforcement officer forwards me an affidavit and it fits the statute, then yes, I will file,” she said.
Not publishing the reports raises questions regarding the city’s transparency, Trabert said, particularly if the financial books are, by the city’s own admission, not balanced properly.
“It could just be sheer negligence, but it certainly raises concerns in the public if there are some things they just don’t want to share,” he said.
Weems said the city’s books needed to be balanced for the city to produce a treasurer’s report at all.
“The report in question is a direct result of balancing and closing out each month,” she said.
Marion County similarly failed to publish quarterly treasurer’s reports six out of seven times in a period spanning from 2022 to 2024.
County treasurer Susan Berg was battling cancer at the time, and county employees struggled to take over her work before and after Berg died in November 2023.