Considering auditor to help special districts

Supervisor Leigh McDaniel suggests a new internal auditor be hired to assist local special districts with their budget needs.

County Finance Director Ted Rozmaryn is to bring a report back to the board March 6 for further review.

Glenn County eliminated the position in recent years as a budget-cutting measure — asking Rozmaryn and his staff to perform those duties as needed.

However, the county had to give up doing internal audits for special districts because of time constraints — leaving many falling behind on submitting their paperwork to the state, McDaniel said.

The biggest problem for such districts now is affordability.

Glenn County used to charge them an at-cost rate, he said, but private companies are charging from $2,200 to $2,500 or more to perform the audits.

The costs are skyrocketing, McDaniel said, in some cases more than the districts' revenue for the year, and in one case, more than two years of revenue.

"If they keep going at this rate, some may go into bankruptcy," he added.

Hiring another internal auditor also would take the pressure off the Finance Department staff and improve Glenn County's reporting times to the state, McDaniel said.

"I think we ought to re-think this and take another look at it," Supervisor John Viegas said., based on the information he has received from state organizations to which he belongs.

Supervisor Mike Murray said he would save his questions until Rozmaryn delivers his report.

Supervisor Dwight Foltz asked if the special districts could do their audits collectively and was told they must do them individually.

"Some districts have not had an audit in nine years," Board Chairman Steve Soeth said. "It is hard to get someone comfortable enough to jump right in."

Much of the districts' budget information already is in the county's system, McDaniel said, so it would be easier to have a county auditor call it up than pay a consultant to look into it.

Rozmaryn also said the internal auditor is concerned with two different parts of the year. One part is devoted to county auditing and the other half to special districts.

Special districts include cemetery districts, irrigation and water districts, rural fire districts and more.

Soeth added a woman who works for a number of local special districts asked him if the county could do something to help them, so it is an important issue.

Representatives from the Ord Bend Services and Fire districts attended Tuesday's meeting and seemed pleased with the county's plan to look into the issue.

Contact Rick Longley at 934-6800 or rlongley@tcnpress.com.