According to auditor Justin Mitchell, the county books are now balanced and everything is reconciled as they should be.
Mitchell who’s with Adams Brown Barren and Ball was hired by the county to help with the problems plaguing the Reno County Treasures Office with their accounting problems. Mitchell told the commission that he continues to check weekly to make sure things with the books are reconciled properly.
He called it a “learning curve” for County Treasure Jan Hull and her staff and said over-all he didn’t think they were experienced enough to handle the volume of activity and the millions of dollars coming and going from the treasures office.
The problems were discovered when Hull took office after certain financial numbers weren’t transferred from written books to the county software system. At one point, the books were off by as much as 3-million dollars, but that has since been corrected.
Mitchell says he’s spent time with Hull and her staff and redistributed some of the work load so that it wasn’t piled on a few people.
He also indicated that some of the checks going out or paid shouldn’t even be with the treasures office and should go through the county clerk. He says some of the checks would show up as non-budgeted items when they should be.
He says things will be critical over the next 30-days and suggested it may be necessary at some point to add an additional position which would be an internal auditor, a numbers person who could assist when a problem arises. He says its not common in other counties, but says some have added that position.
He says he has asked Hull and her staff to notify his office immediately of any problems or issues so that they can make sure they are addressed right away.
He says there was no malfeasance involved with anything which was done by the staff and it appears they are on track for now.