Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Internal Audit topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Columbia County internal audit finds few exceptions in animal services, SPLOST and 311 reviews
Summary
County internal auditor reported no material exceptions in recent audits of Animal Services, the SPLOST program and the 311 call center, but flagged a math error in a controlled-substance log and noted a feedback/closure tracking issue for 311 calls.
Columbia County Internal Auditor Mr. Schneider reported to the county audit committee on June 10 that recent audits of Animal Services, the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) program and the county 311 call center found no material exceptions but did surface a small number of procedural issues.
The auditor told the committee that the Animal Services review found cash collections and invoicing procedures to be in order; the audit team did, however, identify a math error in the department’s controlled-substance euthanasia log that the auditor described as requiring careful tracking because the substance is regulated. The auditor also reviewed separate cremation logs and said the county’s most recent state inspection contained no findings.
On SPLOST, the auditor said the office treated the program as a department-level audit and found compliance with county bid policies, invoice and purchase approval procedures, reconciliations to the general ledger and bank statements, and verification of receipts with the Georgia Department of Revenue. The auditor reported testing of SPLOST disbursements, noting roughly $17,000,000 in project disbursements and a separate roughly $9,000,000 in PFA-related disbursements during the sampled period; debt service interest payments matched the amortization schedule.
The 311 call-center review found generally fast response times and proper revenue and procurement procedures. The auditor noted more items in the current period were not marked “closed” in the 311 system compared with three years ago; the auditor said this likely reflects calls being forwarded to other departments for resolution and a possible feedback-loop issue rather than unresolved work.
Committee members praised staff professionalism and asked follow-ups about audit coverage frequency. The auditor said the office aims for roughly three reports per committee meeting to complete a three-year rotation of departments but may vary that schedule due to staffing constraints.
The committee received the reports and had no additional recommendations recorded in the meeting minutes.
