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A management and financial audit into the RM of McKillop found no evidence of fraud, theft or misappropriation of funds, according to an investigative report by a Calgary-based accounting, tax and business consulting firm.

However, the audit did find examples of requirements under the Municipalities Act of Saskatchewan (MAS) being “circumvented.” Whether or not those actions constitute a “breach of trust” is a matter for the courts, says the report prepared by MNP LLP.

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“It’s a disappointing report is really what it is,” said the RM’s current Reeve Bob Schmidt. “We really looked at this as a report that we were expecting more from. It didn’t turn out that way.”

The report, completed in early January, was prepared for the reeve and council to address concerns regarding transactions that may not have been in the RM’s best interests.

The investigation was spurred by a series of events that began when the RM council surprised ratepayers with an Aug. 10, 2018 vote to increase residential property taxes by 130 per cent, as well as an $850 base tax on improvements. At the time, Reeve Howard Arndt said the increase was needed to respond to a massive hole in its finances, after its administrator — who was subsequently removed from office — revealed a previously unknown $420,000 shortfall. Together with a similar amount of back taxes, mounting legal fees and an expense relating to a treatment plant, that put the RM nearly $1 million in the red.