09/27/2025
Renee Stiver for Jefferson County Treasurer
Write her in!
Audit Reveals Recurring Financial Oversight Issues in Jefferson County Prothonotary/County Clerk of Courts Office
A recent audit conducted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Auditor General has uncovered financial oversight issues within the Jefferson County Clerk of Courts / Prothonotary’s Office. The audit, which reviewed operations over a multi-year period, resulted in two key findings, one of which was a recurring issue previously cited in an earlier audit.
Outstanding Checks Remain Unresolved
The first finding, labeled as “Inadequate Outstanding Check Procedures,” revealed that the office failed to address concerns raised in a prior audit covering 2016 to 2018. The current audit found 301 outstanding checks totaling $13,952.35, dated between 2019 and 2022 that were still outstanding, for the current audit period.
The office attributed the lack of follow-up to time constraints.
Manual Receipt Controls Found Lacking
The second finding, “Inadequate Internal Controls Over Manual Receipts,” highlighted multiple deficiencies in the handling of receipts during computer downtime. Among the issues:
-20 receipts were missing
-12 duplicate receipts were issued
-32 entries were incorrectly logged
-Several receipts not issued in sequence and/or not entered in the system properly
Toyna Geist, the current Jefferson County Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts, acknowledged the issues in her response. She stated that staff are trained to use daily manual receipts, and she did not realize that a clerk was incapable of understanding her job responsibility and thus resulted in inadequate accounting for manual receipts.
Auditors emphasized that poor internal accounting controls increase the risk of misappropriation and/or lost funds.
Geist, who also held the position during the previous audit, is currently running for Jefferson County Treasurer. She faces a Write-In challenge from Renee Stiver, the current Deputy Treasurer for Jefferson County, in the upcoming fall election. Current County Treasurer, James “Moon” Vansteenberg is retiring at year end.
The full audit report is available at www.paauditor.gov
dated 9/9/25
