Commission reviews audit report
Officials say recommendations have been implementedBy PAMELA BRUST, pbrust@newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG - The most recent audit of Wood County's finances noted the lack of daily deposits in some departments and recommended better monitoring procedures for receipts in the Home Confinement Program.
County officials said all deficiencies noted in the report have either been corrected or are in the process of being corrected. The audit report filed by Tiffany Hess, auditor inspector for the West Virginia State Auditor's Office, was turned over to the Wood County Commission. This report covers the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2007. The audit is performed annually by the auditor's office and costs the county about $25,000.
"Naturally we were concerned about the report noting deposits not being made daily from the Home Confinement Program. It's important to get cash and checks deposited in a timely manner. We have to notify the auditor's office about the corrective actions. We have had some concerns in the past about receipts down there also being numbered, so there's a record of the receipts actually filed, that's now being done as we understand it," said commission President Bob Tebay.
"There was some discussion of the timeliness of the deposits, there were three separate offices in the county that had issues with this. There is a provision in state code that if you have over $500 in receipts, you must deposit the next business day. We found that certain offices were not doing that," said Commissioner Blair Couch. "There were also some offices that had receipting issues. They were taking in cash and not timely depositing it, so we were concerned about that. You could have duplicate or missing receipts. There could be multiple employees who have access to cash, receipts, and computerized records. We certainly want to be cautious in how this is being handled. We have to tighten our controls. There are some issues that we were aware of, some we were not, so it's good the auditors have raised these issues as well so they can be addressed," Couch said.
"We have been doing the same thing, but it wasn't mentioned in the previous audits, but it was this time. I did receive a copy of the report and Chief (law enforcement) Deputy Tom Smith and Chief (tax) Deputy Bob Tranquill met with the auditors. They (the auditors) changed some things in the middle of the game last year. We thought we were doing it right," Sheriff Ken Merritt said. Regarding notations relating to the Home Confinement Program, Merritt said the officer now assigned to handle the funds has addressed the issues raised in the audit.
"As for the tax office, we've made daily deposits since I've been in office. There is a part of the code that says if it's under $500 you don't have to do that," Merritt said.
"Everything is logged in, receipts are matched up with the computer, the numbers matched up," Merritt said.
"The funds from the tax office go into an interest-bearing account because the funds aren't distributed to the levying bodies until around the 10th of each month. In the meantime it's in an interest-bearing account," the sheriff said, adding "the interest off the interest-bearing accounts has been around $80,000 annually."
The audit report stated computer reports maintained in the Home Confinement office for receipts issued do not list the actual receipt numbers of the receipts issued, making it difficult to reconcile with actual receipt books. The report also noted a log was not properly maintained of receipt books issued to the Home Confinement officers. Merritt said these issues have been addressed by the officer now handling the bookkeeping for the program.
Auditors recommended: "daily deposits be made by all offices in the county."
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WVCommissioner
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07-11-08 4:43 AM
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The article misses a couple numbers. What was the percentage earned and on what amount?
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vortex
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07-10-08 12:00 AM
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Why is Tebay always so quick to jump on a mistake that the Sheriff's Office make. Why did he not jump in the news paper and tell the story about the Commission not billing the state for two years on the rent for the Family Lawmasters offices They lost interest on about a Quarter Million Dollars over a two year period.
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