Washington County Controller Heather Sheatler has raised an alarm over what she says is the county’s Finance Department circumventing oversight, which has resulted in a 130-thousand-dollar loss of money to hackers. Sheatler says her office was alerted on September 19th that the county’s finance department had bypassed a legally required oversight of the controllers office when making vendor payments and has now caused significant financial harm, with thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds being fraudulently transferred after the finance department changed a vendor’s banking information and directed payments to a malicious third party. Sheatler says responsibility for this failure lies directly with the County Finance Department, which reports to County Administrator Daryl Price. Sheatler also claims that Commissioner Chair Nick Sherman was aware of the consequences of these actions, yet has continued to support and direct these improper procedures. Sheatler says her office is calling for immediate corrective action to ensure this type of breach does not happen again. Stronger safeguards and adherence to the established financial review process are critical to restoring public trust and protecting taxpayer resources. In response, Commissioner Chair Nick Sherman says the county had no responsibility for the hack, but he said he needed more time to determine whether there was an unlawful act on the part of the finance department. He says he believes everything was done according to protocol and called Sheatler’s accusations a way for a candidate running for office to make a little political hay.