Tooele County received a clean audit for 2016, but the auditors raised the specter of the need for a non-elected financial officer for the county.
“The report you have is an unqualified or clean opinion,” said Heather Christopherson, with the Odgen-based accounting firm of Ulrich & Associates. “And that is what you want.”
The county’s general fund balance increased by $3.1 million to a total of $11.4 million with $10.3 million of the fund balance being unassigned at the end of 2016, according to Christopherson.
Christopherson pointed out that the original 2016 budget only called for a 180,000 addition to general fund balance.
“The reason for the increased fund balance was we did not do some capital projects, but kept the money in the fund balance so we can do them another year,” said Commissioner Myron Bateman.
Christopherson did tell the commissioners that the audit found that, for the third year, there were some transactions that were not recorded until year-end when the auditors came, so they weren’t seen on earlier financial reports. This delay caused some expenses to run over budget.
“This is getting better each year,” said Christopherson. “But we have recommended that you either hire someone capable of making these entries or hire an external consulting firm.”
In a letter to the county commission dated June 15, 2017, Ulrich and Associate states, “We recommended in the prior year that management create a new position that could provide support to department heads and elected officials in the budget process.”
Tooele County Clerk/Auditor Marilyn Gillette said the number of findings by the auditor has declined from six to one.
“When I took over the auditor duties, we just followed the procedures as things have always been done,” Gillette said. “As a result of the audits, we have changed procedures. We will now make these entries quarterly as the auditors have suggested.”
The idea of moving budget and accounting functions from the clerk/auditor has been floating around the county building since 2104.
“When we combined the clerk and auditor offices, part of the savings was intended to fund the budget officer position,” said Commissioner Shawn Milne. “The idea was to create a better separation of duties, so the person doing the auditing isn’t also the person tracking the expenses.”
In an email to the Tooele County Commission dated June 30, 2017, Greg Bleazard, on behalf of the county’s volunteer audit advisory committee, wrote, “For the past three years, we have recommended that the County hire such an individual whose responsibilities could include keeping commissioners, department heads and County officials apprised of the status of budgets, funds, spending plans, etc. We believe that no matter the form of government and the inclusion or break up of the audit/clerk’s office that a non-elected financial professional is needed and such individual should report directly to the Commission.”
Commissioner Myron Bateman said he does not agree with hiring an independent budget officer.
“I have some real concerns with hiring a single individual that may not be as transparent as they need to be,” Bateman said. “I am not for hiring a budget officer under the county commission.”
According to Commission Chairman Wade Bitner, the commission has some options to consider.
“The auditor has given us some options to think about,” he said. “We need to look at them and decide what will work best for the citizens of the county.”