County receives a "clean" audit

RITZVILLE – At a county commissioner’s meeting on Sept. 13, the state auditor’s office reported no uncorrected misstatements in the county’s financial statements, no significant internal control deficiencies, and no instances of noncompliance with grant program requirements. The audit covered the year ended December 31, 2021.

Such audit results are often labeled “clean” because auditors have nothing significant to report.

All county governments cannot claim such a positive audit result. For example, the state auditor’s office posted a report to the Grant County board of commissioners in March of this year. That report noted that the county distributed coronavirus relief funds totaling $3.7 million to three sub-recipients, but the county did not perform required risk assessments for two of these sub-recipients. In other words, Grant County did not get a “clean” compliance opinion.

In addition to the financial statements, lead auditor Cindy Gilbreth noted that their team scrutinized Adams County’s compliance with two federal programs: Highway Planning and Construction ($1,084,357 expended) and a COVID-19 grant ($346,071 expended). Costs for these two programs made up about 62 percent of the county’s total federal expenditures for 2021. Again, the county received a “clean” opinion.

At the meeting, Galbreath and audit supervisor, Weston Fink, commended county auditor, Heidi Hunt, and treasurer, Kayla Meise, for their prompt and thorough responses to document requests.

State auditors will return later this fall to conduct another audit, this time of the county’s “Accountability for Public Resources.” That audit is expected to cost $24,000 plus travel expenses.

The county’s bill for the current audit: $32,000.