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Outside auditor gives LaSalle County a clean opinion but flags internal-control gaps and duplicate payments
Summary
At the May 12 Finance & TIF Committee meeting, outside auditor Tanya reported a clean audit opinion for LaSalle County but highlighted repeat internal-control weaknesses: unrecorded custodial accounts, duplicate invoice payments, large audit adjustments, and recommendations to centralize grant tracking and strengthen year-end processes.
The LaSalle County Finance and TIF Committee received its 2025 outside audit on May 12 and heard that auditors issued a clean opinion while reporting several notable internal-control weaknesses and extensive adjustments. "We did have a clean opinion on the audit report this year," outside auditor Tanya told the committee.
Tanya summarized the county's financial position: total assets rose to about $193,000,000 (from $191,000,000 the prior year), total liabilities increased to roughly $113,000,000 (from $88,000,000), and governmental net position ended near $57.7 million. She also detailed the county nursing home's business-type activity: operating revenues around $6.3 million, expenditures about $8.0 million, and a year-end net position near $5.03 million.
The auditor flagged several recurring issues. She said custodial and department bank accounts were not always properly recorded in the general ledger, restricted funds were not being tracked by fund as required, and year-end accruals (for example, inventory and accrued interest) were sometimes missing or unreconciled. Tanya also noted duplicate invoice processing that resulted in some duplicate payments and a prior-period adjustment related to two ARPA payments that were double-paid in February 2024. "Total journal entries were 316,000,000," she said, describing the scale of corrective entries made to align beginning balances and record agency fund activity.
Tanya recommended that the county establish and execute clear accounting and internal policies, assign responsible parties, and centralize grant tracking and reporting. She pointed to a recent personnel step intended to help: the county added a finance director position in December 2025 to strengthen oversight.
Committee members followed up with questions about specific funds and balances. The auditor walked through the general fund schedules (a year-end general fund balance of roughly $27.1 million) and several special funds (insurance, IRMRF and social security funds), noting transfers and how revenue timing can affect year-end figures. She characterized the general fund as healthy but emphasized the need to formalize procedures to prevent repeated errors.
The committee voted to forward the outside audit to the full county board for review. Tanya is expected to attend the board meeting to present the report.
What happens next: The audit will be placed on the full board agenda; the auditor recommended that the county implement the listed accounting policies and centralize grant tracking to reduce future repeat findings.
