Public raises concerns as county’s ARPA single audit remains unfinished; county says draft under partner review

During public comment at the June 2 meeting, a resident raised concerns that Carroll County has not uploaded its 2024 single audit for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to federal portals and said the missing audit and the county’s public-facing filings do not segregate ARPA funds, which complicates oversight by the state delegation.

The public commenter said: “Your 2024, uploaded single audit to the feds have not been, submitted. So I would like to have a copy of that. It's the single one for the ARPA funds.” He added the missing single audit is late and called that “a violation of the law.” The commenter also said public-facing documents on grants showed a non-segregation of ARPA funds and that the delegation chair had expressed concern about tracking.

County staff told the commission the draft audit is currently with the partner at the auditor firm (referred to in the meeting as the partner at Vacheron UK) for final review and that the county had not released the report because it was not finalized. Staff said the county performs its regular audit and the ARPA single audit at the same time to avoid return visits by the auditor, and that the county will provide the single audit when it is final.

Why it matters: federal and state rules for ARPA-accounting require specific reporting and, in some cases, segregation or distinct presentation of ARPA receipts and expenditures; timely audits affect compliance and public transparency.

Commissioners and staff said they will provide the public-record materials responsive to right-to-know requests and circulate the audit once final. No formal vote occurred on this item; it was raised as public comment.