Jefferson County officials seek fix after auditors find $21,000 mismatch in impact-fee fund

Auditors, the county clerk and the treasurer reported to the Board of Jefferson County Commissioners on a continuing reconciliation issue in the county's impact-fee fund that auditors said left subaccounts $21,000 short of the fund's stated cash balance.

The discrepancy matters because the county must show that subaccounts within fund 9171 (impact fees) equal the fund's total cash before the county can make clean transfers to fire districts, road and general fund accounts as required by prior resolutions and the auditor's recommendations.

Audrey, the county auditor, summarized the problem and said the issue goes back several years and involves corrections and entries that were made on the clerk's side of the accounting system. "There were a lot of corrections in and out," Audrey said. "The subaccounts do not add up to the penny the total of the fund, and they do not."

Colleen, the county clerk, acknowledged the complexity and that some historical transfers had not been executed as intended. "If it was never transferred, that money should be there somewhere," Colleen said, adding that staff need to show where prior transfers went before making new adjustments.

Treasurer Christine Lynn confirmed that the treasurer's cash statement and the accounting detail were not aligning: "That fund only has so many subaccounts, and the total of those subaccounts should balance to the penny the total of the fund, and they do not." Commissioners and staff repeatedly traced the discrepancy to a set of entries around a 2016 resolution that shifted building-permit receipts and later corrections around 2020'23.

Vernon (finance staff) and Dana (accounting/IT liaison) joined the discussion to show monthly impact-fee reports and the auditor's worksheet. Vernon told the board that the fund had a reported cash balance of roughly $676,000 at the end of a prior reporting period but that the sum of the fund's subaccounts added to about $872,000 in the auditor's working papers, leaving the unexplained difference auditors flagged.

Audrey and Colleen said the outside auditors had documented the needed transfers at the fund level but that the clerk's subaccount detail did not contain clear offsets for each line. Audrey said staff could correct transactions from the audit cutoff forward and recommended transferring verifiable amounts month-by-month beginning October 2023 rather than attempt a single one-time fix for the entire multi-year history.

The board asked staff to continue the reconciliation and to meet after the meeting with auditor and treasurer staff to (1) identify the specific subaccount entries that produce the $21,000 gap, (2) document where any misposted amounts currently reside in county cash, and (3) prepare a schedule of monthly transfers from October 2023 forward that can be executed immediately. Commissioner comments emphasized the need for a clear, auditable trail before any transfers are made.

Audrey and Colleen said they would convene the needed review with Vernon, Dana and the treasurer and return with a corrected set of transfers and documentation. The board recessed the item to allow that follow-up work.

Ending: Commissioners instructed the auditor, treasurer and clerk to prioritize the reconciliation and to begin making transfers for months after the audit cutoff that can be documented; unresolved historical entries remain under active review.