Snow leads to banking snafu

0

The snowstorm that rang in the new year also racked up banking fees for Wood County.
With county offices shuttered on Jan. 6 and 7, many business also did not open while a Level 3 snow
emergency was in effect. The disruption led to some working from home, including representatives of
Huntington Bank, through which Wood County does much of its banking.
During a meeting with commissioners Thursday, bank representatives explained the circumstances under
which 84 warrants were not processed, resulting in fees to the county and organizations with which it
does business. Warrants are a substitute for checks that are required to be used by all counties in
Ohio.
"Huntington was home working from their computers, trying to keep these checks covered, (but) 84
checks got returned (because of) insufficient funds," said Wood County Treasurer Jill Engel.
"It was a week from hell."
Sharon Speyer, president of Huntington’s Northwest Ohio region, said the person who usually processes the
county’s warrants didn’t have computer access at home. When someone else did the job, they missed a
portion of the warrant listing, which has about 500 items most days.
"(We) were horrified that that occurred," Speyer said, noting that the bank is paying for or
negotiating for removal of all fees to "make the county whole."
Otherwise, the fees could have totaled as much as $2,000, Engel said.
"The reality is, the person who normally does this doesn’t have a laptop to take home back and
forth," Speyer explained.
"It was human error. We have a new contingency plan that will make sure that this never … happens
again."
Wood County does the vast majority of its banking with Huntington. Engel said there is about $95 million
in the bank, most of if federal funding for various agencies. Otherwise, money is spread across
different banks that do business in the county.
Engel said only one institution, PNC Bank, declined to waive fees related to the mix up, and she has
since removed about $4 million from the bank.SClB"The embarrassment was the worst thing,"
Engel said of the Huntington mistake.

No posts to display