LANCASTER — A recent audit of Garrard County Fiscal Court exposed a few weaknesses in bookkeeping procedures that county officials plan to remedy.
State Auditor Adam Edelen released an audit of the 2010-11 fiscal year. Every year, the state audits the financial records of every fiscal court in Kentucky.
“The good news is there is no money missing and no bills paid that should not have been paid,” Garrard Judge-Executive John Wilson said Monday.
Wilson said it seemed most complaints in the audit related to practices the county has used for many years.
The county must maintain a list of all assets such as vehicles and real estate and also record any sales of property. The audit said Garrard County needs to keep this list on a fiscal year rather than a calendar year.
Edelen also recommended Garrard County improve its controls over payroll and comply with applicable laws and regulations. For example, the audit found nine timesheets were not signed by a supervisor.
“While some specific timesheets had not been signed by the supervisor, the hours worked were signed off by the supervisor on different forms,” Wilson wrote in response to the audit. “This has been the past practice of the Fiscal Court and has never elicited a response from the auditor.”
The auditor did find an important oversight due to computer error, according to both Wilson and the report. One employee’s retirement withholding was entered as $6 rather than 6 percent. Wilson said the problem was immediately corrected and a signed agreement was reached with the employee to pay back the difference.
