County audit gets clean opinion; committee hears plan to fix tax-deed documentation and notes fiscal forecast shifts

Kenosha County officials received a clean audit opinion for the 2024 financial statements and an update on year-to-date finances and implementation issues.

Maureen Peterson, representing the county’s auditors, presented the audited financial statements and said the firm issued a clean opinion. The audit narrative reviewed government-wide statements, fund comparisons between 2023 and 2024, capital-asset schedules, long-term liabilities and standard footnotes including pension and other post-employment benefit (OPEB) disclosures. Peterson said the general fund ended the year with about $34 million in total fund balance, including $26.3 million unassigned, and that the county’s unassigned fund balance as a percentage of expenditures was 29.72% (the committee’s 30% target).

County staff told the committee they received a management order this year flagging concerns with kinship-care file documentation and with the timing of tax-deed profit documentation. Staff reported interim steps: moving spreadsheets to a shared drive so finance can access documentation and planning a discussion with auditors to ensure the short-term process is acceptable. The county plans to build the clerk module of its tax-management system (to capture these events) and expects the actual build-out in 2026; staff said meetings and process changes will occur sooner.

On the single-audit packet for federal and state grants, auditors tested selected programs and reported no findings, efficiencies or disputes of noncompliance for the tested programs. The auditors said the county received and spent about $35 million in federal grants and about $27.5 million in state grants for 2024; the auditors tested a sample of programs and did not report any material problems.

County administration also presented a year-end general fund forecast showing a stronger sales-tax performance — a 12% year-over-year increase for the first six months driven by a particularly strong June — which improved the county’s outlook. Human Services is projecting a surplus that helped the general fund; however, the sheriff’s operating expenditures showed a small worsening owing to a new vendor for inmate medical services, overtime and other variable jail costs. Staff said a new vendor — identified in the meeting as VitaCorp (sometimes spoken as Vita Corp) — began service in April and the county is checking whether the contract contains performance milestones or sanctions.

Committee discussion emphasized the importance of professionally documenting tax-deed and kinship-care records rather than relying on spreadsheets. One supervisor said the auditor’s finding made it “critically important” to professionalize the process and not rely on spreadsheets; staff confirmed the plan to reconvene the group that designed the tax-management system and to involve IT and clerk staff as the module is built.

No formal committee action was required on the audit itself; staff will follow up with the auditors, continue process improvements and return with progress updates on the tax-management system build and the fiscal forecast.