Will County finance staff reviewed the county's asset accounting and record-keeping standards, explaining why tangible assets are capitalized at $5,000, intangibles at $50,000 and how minor assets are tracked at the department level. The presentation covered asset types, capitalization thresholds, depreciation schedules, and annual inventory procedures.
The finance presenter said the county follows Governmental Accounting Standards Board guidance and Government Finance Officers Association best practices to prepare financial statements and set capitalization rules. "GASB and GFOA are the organizations that tell us how we need to present our financial activity," the presenter said. Assistant Finance Director Emily Perkins explained that tangible assets under $5,000 are monitored differently than capital assets and that items valued between $1,000 and $5,000 are inventoried by departments as "minor assets."
Board members pressed staff on how the policy treats groups of lower-cost items and on replacement of furnishings. Perkins said individual items are evaluated on their unit cost and "you don't capitalize" simply by aggregating many sub-$5,000 items, except when furnishings are part of a new building project and were capitalized with that project. She said departments receive annual lists to confirm what they have, and that surplus removals follow the county surplus process.
Finance staff reviewed depreciation useful lives used by the county: buildings 50 years, roofs/parking lots variable (25 and 7 years), equipment/vehicles/computer hardware five years, and infrastructure lives depending on asset type. The presenter said the county uses straight-line depreciation and compiles its own annual financial statements for audit review.
On controls for more sensitive minor assets (weapons, radios, laptops in the sheriff's office, power tools for facilities), Perkins said departments may tag items themselves and maintain lists; the finance office provides guidance and an annual reconciliation. The internal audit office conducts periodic physical inventories of capital assets.
Board members discussed whether the $5,000 threshold should be raised because of inflation; Perkins said GFOA still recommends not going below $5,000 and that state and federal grant rules sometimes require higher thresholds (she cited an internal practice that the state may use $25,000 and federal grants $50,000). Perkins also noted the county monitors items below $5,000 and will standardize sensitive-item tracking if the board directs staff to do so.
The presentation concluded with a brief discussion of the county's capital asset modules in the finance system (previously New World; migrating to current system D365 by year end) and the role of auditors in testing additions and balances. "When capital assets are booked, that gets set up in the capital asset module, and that's where the depreciation happens," Perkins said.
Board direction: staff did not propose ordinance changes but suggested standardizing how departments record sensitive minor assets; the committee asked staff to provide a standardized form or guidance rather than an ordinance change at this time.
Background: county staff said the $5,000 tangible threshold and the $50,000 intangible threshold are drawn from longstanding GASB guidance and GFOA best practices; grants and higher-level reporting may require different thresholds.