Newton County court approves creation of purchase-order system to track spending

Newton County commissioners voted to create a county-wide purchase-order system intended to improve tracking and management of taxpayer dollars, citing recent missed invoices and untracked purchases as justification.

Chair (the meeting’s presiding officer) said the court would approve creation of the PO system while staff and department heads draft detailed procedures to return to the court for final adoption. Commissioner Powell moved the measure and the court approved it.

County staff described concrete examples to explain the need. The auditor’s office reported "we received an invoice from one of the departments… for $22,000 for some things that were missed back in 2024 budget" and cited an earlier $17,000 generator expense the office had not been aware of. Staff told commissioners the PO system would include workshops with department heads to design a user-friendly procedure before the court votes on the formal adoption.

Commissioner Powell argued the court should support the current work and "approve the creation of a PO system today, knowing that future department head meetings will be held to draft and create the procedure, and the final procedure will be voted on and adopted by the commissioner's court based on those meetings." The motion passed on a voice vote; commissioners did not record an itemized roll-call tally in the transcript.

Why it matters: County staff said the PO system is intended to prevent surprises in later accounting periods, improve interdepartmental communication about commitments, and help the court identify out-of-budget liabilities earlier. The court’s next steps are to hold the planned workshops and return a formal procedure for adoption and a final vote.