Legislative auditors summon Cross County Rural Water after decades of missing filings and more than $1.5 million in state awards
Loading...
Summary
Lawmakers deferred a recently filed audit and voted to require Cross County Rural Water Association to appear after staff said the association had not filed audit reports with legislative audit since 2002–2003 despite receiving a June 2023 state loan (~$876,000) and a June 2024 ARPA grant (~$657,712). Committee members asked for answers about where funds were spent and why prior filings were missing.
The Legislative Audit Committee on Feb. 12 deferred a newly filed audit report for Cross County Rural Water Association and voted to require the association’s management to appear at a later meeting to explain why annual audit filings were missing for roughly two decades.
Representative Moore, who raised constituents’ complaints about water quality and state funding oversight, told the committee staff had located a lone filing from 2002–2003 and a newly filed engagement dated 04/30/2025, but not the annual audit records the statute requires for intervening years. Legislative audit staff said the association has received substantial state assistance in recent years, including a state loan reported at about $876,000 in June 2023 and an ARPA grant of approximately $657,712 in June 2024—together roughly $1.53 million.
Committee members said the gap in filings raised oversight and accountability questions. Representative Dolby and others asked staff whether the statute imposes a mandatory filing duty and whether the committee or executive committee needed to take further legal or investigatory steps. Legislative audit staff confirmed an annual audit and subsequent filing with legislative audit are required by statute; staff also said there is a separate penalty mechanism administered by the Natural Resources Commission and related state agencies but that enforcement of missing filings has not been uniformly tracked.
After discussion, the committee voted to defer the matter to the March meeting and to invite Cross County Rural Water’s management to appear. The motion was amended on the floor to allow questioning about prior missing filings as well as the 2025 engagement; the amended motion passed by voice vote.
The committee’s action requests that management explain (1) why audits were not filed with legislative audit for the intervening years, (2) the uses of state and federal funds the association received, and (3) whether independent audits exist that were not previously provided to legislative audit staff. Committee members said staff would coordinate with the association and return with a recommended procedural path, including whether the executive committee should authorize additional audit work.
What happens next: staff will contact Cross County Rural Water and the association will be asked to appear in the committee’s next regularly scheduled meeting to respond to questions about missing filings and the recent state awards. The committee noted that if evidence of misfeasance or missing funds emerges, the matter could be referred to prosecuting authorities.
