Commissioners agree to seek bids for independent financial audit after staff report on past treasury irregularities

County staff reported findings on May 20 that raised concerns about Treasury and accounting practices during prior years and prompted commissioners to direct staff to solicit bids for an independent audit.

Director Fitzgerald, the county’s director of operations, read a summary of the department’s review of American Rescue Plan (ARP) receipts and other treasury transactions. He stated that the narrative circulating that ARP funds were “missing” is inaccurate and that the ARP reporting issue had been corrected and resubmitted to the U.S. Treasury. “In fact, all funds were spent legally and accounted for in our county financial system,” Fitzgerald told the board while presenting a narrower operational summary of ARP reporting steps.

At the same time, Fitzgerald and other staff described a broader set of concerns discovered in a preliminary review of prior transactions after the county’s treasurer changed. Findings listed in the meeting included transfers recorded in the county ledger that were not completed in the bank; bank fees that were not recorded for months; deposits recorded late or not at all in departmental records; outstanding returned items; and a pattern of misapplied or misdirected distributions to several districts. Examples cited in the discussion included a $143,249.48 misapplied distribution to one school district in 2021, $241,110.58 sent to the wrong school district in 2022 and a manufactured-dwelling-park distribution in 2022–23 that required a $379,907.46 return after being held for a year.

Commissioners said the volume of bank adjustments since 2021—cited in staff materials as on the order of tens of millions of dollars in reconciliations—warrants a deeper, formal financial audit. Commissioners discussed the appropriate scope and timeline and recommended a forensic- or transaction-level audit that would at minimum cover fiscal years 2020 through 2024. The board directed staff to draft a request for proposals (RFP) or scope of work and solicit bids; commissioners said findings would be public unless litigation required otherwise.

Commissioners and staff said current county staff and the current treasurer, Nick Buccino, were working to reconcile accounts and rectify discovered issues. The board agreed to return the audit procurement to a future agenda for formal selection after bids are received.

No formal contract award was made at the meeting; the board authorized moving forward with soliciting bids once the scope is finalized.