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Audit finds Spencer County sheriff's final settlement filed late; court receives reports
Summary
A state audit presented to the Spencer County Fiscal Court says the county sheriff did not file a required final settlement by the March 15 deadline, leading audit authors to report overstated receipts and disbursements. The report was received by the court for information; no corrective motion was recorded at the meeting.
A state audit presented to the Spencer County Fiscal Court on Feb. 2 found the Spencer County sheriff did not present a final settlement to the fiscal court by the March 15 statutory deadline, the Auditor of Public Accounts reported.
The audit documents for the sheriff's office cover two periods: Jan. 1–Aug. 31, 2024 (the former sheriff) and Sept. 1–Dec. 31, 2024 (the incoming sheriff). The Auditor's Schedule of Findings lists 2024-001: the final settlement presented April 7, 2025 combined outgoing and incoming sheriff activity and therefore overstated receipts and disbursements by $208,884, the report states. The audit recommends the sheriff comply with KRS 134.192 by presenting the final settlement to the fiscal court by March 15 each year.
The court received the audit reports as informational items. The audit notes that, despite the timing issue, the sheriff made required excess-fee payments; the report also characterizes the timing error as noncompliance with KRS 134.192 and describes the deficiency as a material weakness in internal control. The audit further notes that an outgoing sheriff must make a final settlement when vacating office under KRS 64.830 and that the fiscal court may collect amounts determined due by audit.
Auditor of Public Accounts documentation included a standard unmodified opinion on the Commonwealth of Kentucky's regulatory basis of accounting and an adverse opinion relative to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, language consistent with regulatory-basis financial statements. The audit's accompanying report text and Schedule of Findings were entered into the meeting record; the Auditor's report date in the materials is Oct. 2, 2025.
County officials did not move on any corrective motions during the Feb. 2 meeting. The audit record shows the sheriff's office submitted written audit materials and that the auditor noted management oversight weaknesses in the Schedule of Findings; the official(s) named in the report did not provide a written response included in the packet. The fiscal court accepted the reports "for information only," according to the meeting minutes.
What happens next: the audit text recommends actions that, under Kentucky law, may be enforced or followed up through audit processes or by court notice; the minutes do not record any additional direction from the fiscal court at the Feb. 2 meeting. The court did not vote on policy changes tied to the audit at that session.
