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Auditor reports repeated deficiencies; committee orders steps to improve month-end closing and grant reporting
Summary
An outside auditor told the LaSalle County Finance and TIF Committee that while financial statements improved, multiple findings were repeated from prior years; committee members directed changes to meeting timing, bill submission and grant reporting to reduce future audit findings.
An outside auditor presented LaSalle Countys fiscal-year audit to the countys Finance and TIF Committee on May 6, reporting improvements but noting repeated material weaknesses and significant deficiencies that require corrective action.
Tanya (auditor, accounting firm) told the committee that total assets rose and net position improved compared with the prior year, driven in part by a roughly $6 million iFiber payment that boosted general-fund revenue. However, the audit recorded multiple repeat findings tied to financial-statement preparation, grant tracking and reporting, accounts receivable and ledger reconciliation.
"Some of these are in progress to be improved upon," the auditor said, noting the 2022 audit backlog delayed corrective steps and that the auditors office worked to correct beginning balances for the current year. The auditor flagged items including insufficient financial oversight for department bank accounts, incomplete accounts receivable, grant revenue recorded to expense accounts, fund activity not recorded in the general ledger, and untimely GATA and federal clearinghouse reporting for grant awards.
The auditor also reviewed the countys single-audit requirements and federal expenditures. The audit showed approximately $9.4 million in ARPA-related federal expenditures in the year and total federal expenditures of about $10.4 million. The auditor explained that any entity spending more than $750,000 in federal awards requires a single audit and related SEFA reporting.
Committee members pressed for operational changes. Craig proposed moving the committees monthly meeting to the second Tuesday so department heads have additional time to submit invoices after month-end; members asked the clerks office and auditors to prepare a memo to elected officials and department heads about timely invoice submission and a soft month-close process. Several members argued for stronger purchase-order discipline to reduce handwritten draws and late invoice posting. Committee members also discussed creating clearer policies for grant tracking and timely filing for GATA and federal data-collection forms.
The committee voted to forward the outside audit to the full county board for approval. Members discussed the need for a finance director to centralize responsibilities the auditor said fall beyond auditing (budget oversight, interdepartmental follow-up). The auditor said findings decreased in number compared with the worst prior years but that several significant items remained and that centralized processes and training should reduce repeat findings.
Key numbers presented by the auditor included year-end general-fund revenues of roughly $38 million (up from $32.6 million the prior year), property-tax revenue around $7.5 million, intergovernmental revenue about $18.3 million, interest income about $1.56 million and the iFiber deposit near $6 million. The auditor also showed assessed valuation growth (about $2.9 billion five years ago to roughly $3.56 billion in the latest schedule) and corresponding tax-rate decreases.
The committee instructed staff to draft policy and communication steps and to consider whether to pursue a finance director position. The committee scheduled follow-up review and asked the auditor and county finance staff to provide condensed materials for the full board review.
