Commissioners Review 2004 Audit

Mark Hardison presented the audit report for 2004 for Jasper County, showing that the audit firm had to give a “qualified” opinion because of several “reportable conditions” with the county’s audit.

The County Commission made no budget adjustments or amendments in 2004, so any department that had expenditures in excess of appropriations at the department level was considered over budget, even if it was a small amount. For example, the registrars were $565 over budget.

In addition, there were cases where, say a grant was received and spent, but not properly reflected in the budget. Mr. Hardison explained that any changes in budget, for whatever reason, must be reflected as a budget amendment.

He further said the county had several component accounts, such as, law library, jail fund, law enforcement confiscation fund, drug education, juvenile court, farmer’s market, and victim’s assistance, that were not budgeted. All accounts must be budgeted, he said, even if the county has no control over the funds. All funds must be reflected in the overall budget, he said.
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The county was over-budget some 800,000, which was a combination of over-expenditures and revenues not being brought in during 2004.
Mr. Hardison said that the county spent some $400,000 out of the contingency line item during 2004, an act that should not be done. He said contingency should be used for budgeting purposes only. No bills should be paid from contingency.

He said throughout his presentation that he saw certain weaknesses in cash management. He praised the county for using a payroll service, but said the county cannot shift its responsibility to the service. He said the county did not have the proper checks in place to see that the payroll service was doing the job the county is paying it to do.

He said the county apparently took over curbside billing mid-year, and the proper controls were not put in place at that time. Therefore, accounting reports that were needed were not generated. He said the curbside reflected in the audit is confusing, and it is only six months. The landfill, also reflected as a business-type account, shows a deficit of some $2 million, according to the audit report. The general fund has been cash flowing the landfill for years, Mr. Hardison said.

Mr. Hardison told the county it is not good to have a “qualified opinion,” and the county should take steps to improve bookkeeping and budgeting services. The county will have to prove an answer to the opinion to the state, and the county will have to submit a corrective action plan.

The county will also have to scramble to correct many of the same deficiencies in the 2005 budget to not have a similar report next year. The new county manager, Greg Williams, is a certified public accountant, and the county is preparing to hire a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the county. Mr. Hardison said the CFO would prevent many of the problems that were seen in the 2004 budget.

However, this audit report, that the commission had wanted in a timely fashion was presented at the December 5 meeting, not leaving much time to correct problems in 2005. It is the first time the county had to comply with new governmental GASB34 guidelines.

Besides the auditor’s work, the county contracted with Paul Glick through the Association County Commissioners of Georgia to provide the financial statements for GASB 34 reporting. Several times over the past months when the status of the audit was questioned, commissioners were told they were waiting on Mr. Glick.
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Kelly Fox, an insurance broker who has worked for Jasper County for several years, presented the county with two proposals for health insurance. One would be to continue the current Aetna plan at a 12.8 percent increase in premium. The other, recommended by Mr. Fox, is a “point of service” plan by Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

Mr. Fox said that Jasper County had had a good claims year, putting it in a better position to get competitive insurance rates. He said the main change with the BC/BS plan was that to see a specialist, the patient would have to be referred by a primary care physician.

Commission Chairman Jack Bernard said it was the same as a HMO and that it was horrible. He said he had experience with HMOs in California and that the primary care physician would serve as gatekeeper, and would often not refer patients to a specialist. For example, he said, if Bob Yarbrough hurt his back and wanted to see a orthopedist, the primary care physician would put him off and say wait two weeks.

Mr. Fox said he had not encountered that problem with this plan that a number of his clients carry. He said that if a Jasper County employee has a problem like that, the employee can call Mr. Fox and he will help him get the care he needs.

Mr. Fox also showed commissioners a disability insurance plan the county could provide for the employees with its savings on the health plan. In addition, he showed them a slightly different dental plan.

After considerable discussion, commissioners voted 4-1 to go with the BC/BS plan, and forego any additional plans at this time. (They had not budgeted for an increase in insurance.)
In other action at Monday’s regular meeting, commissioners:

•Discussed the construction of a larger office across the hall for the human resources personnel. Mr. Williams said thad been out sick for a time.

Mr. Williams said he understood more room was needed to keep employee records secure, and that the original plan had the room in it. When the Clerk of Court occupied the space while the Courthouse was being renovated, he did not want the wall, said Mr. Williams. However, it was in the original plan.

Commissioner Carl Pennamon said he thought when walls were going up the commission should be consulted. Mr. Williams said that was something they would need to work out over the next few months. He wasn’t clear what the commission wants him to handle and what needs to be brought to them.

•Heard that a representative of Advance Disposal Service will be at the December 19 County Commission meeting. At that time, the county plans to have an agreement ready to sign that will eliminate Monticello from the contract, and will have provisions to address complaints. During discussion, Commissioner Pennamon shared records he had pulled about the garbage complaints. He said that out of 50,000+ garbage pick-ups there were less than 1,200 complaints, for a complaint rate of 2.76 percent.

County Attorney John Nix said he did not have that information before, but asked did the commission think based on the percentage of complaints it has enough to break the contract. Mr. Bernard said he thinks that’s an inaccurate count. He said he’s not happy but he doesn’t call. He said ADS is aware they have a problem and it’s getting worse. Mr. Nix said they think it’s getting better. One of the commissioners raised the question does the county have a back-up if it proposed to break the contract.

•Heard a recommendation from Planning Director Chris Anderson that the county should accept Liberty Drive. John Bruno developed the road more than a year ago, and would like to turn it over to the county. Once it becomes county property, it will be up to the county to maintain the road.
Francis Cason had suggested the county hire an engineer to inspect the road before accepting it.

Mr. Anderson said he did not think that was necessary. Later John Bruno spoke. He said he was prepared to rebut Mr. Cason’s letter, but since the county appeared to be prepared to accept the road he would not waste their time. He did encourage them to take the action at the December 19 meeting rather than waiting until January.

•Heard from Mark Watson about development along Long Piney Road. He said that two meetings ago the county said the issue would be at the next meeting, and it hadn’t been yet. Mr. Bernard said that Tony Shiver was supposed to show up and had not, but that it would be on the agenda.

•Heard from Doug Sorenson about the recreation commission. Mr. Sorenson said he had come to the commission in the spring with a proposal and the commission had sent him to the recreation commission. He said since that time the recreation commission had not had a quorum and therefore was not able to take any action.
•Heard a complaint from Evelyn Smith about garbage pick-up.

At the end of the meeting, commissioners went into closed session to discuss two cases of pending litigation.