“Overall, we are pleased with the results of the audit performed by the Auditor of State’s Office,” said Karl Keith, Montgomery County auditor. “It was determined that our comprehensive financial statements released in June for fiscal year 2016 fairly represent the financial position of the county in accordance with government accounting standards.”
However, Auditor of State Dave Yost flagged a few items for the county to resolve and areas where procedures could improve. Here are three.
Old, outstanding checks: Two departments, Juvenile Court and the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, had outstanding checks dating back to 2001 on their reconciliations that were never cashed nor reported as unclaimed funds.
Road reporting: The County Engineer's policy for maintenance of roads states that 80 percent of county's roads be maintained in a condition of "fair" or better, in order to keep roads at a manageable condition. At the end of 2016, only 211 of the County's 320 centerline miles on its roads, or 66 percent, were assigned that rating. The state auditor recommends the establishment of procedures to verify the Engineer's Office is following the written policies, or adjust policies to be more realistic if the current expectations are unattainable.
Network security: While the state auditor made no finding that the county's computer data has been compromised or misused, the report noted that a number of systems including Real Estate, payroll, domestic courts and the network hosting water and sewer billing are potentially vulnerable because user accounts are not periodically reviewed and accounts deactivated or access privileges changed due to staff departures and job changes.
About the Author