County write-off delayed

The decision to write approximately $200,000 off Whitman County’s books was delayed Tuesday by county commissioners.

The county’s general ledger shows, at last account, $206,000 more invested than can be proven by bank statements.

Commissioners are planning to erase that sum from the county’s cash reserves in order to have a zero balance budget to bring into new accounting software.

They thought that decision had to be made Tuesday.

Maribeth Becker, commissioners’ clerk, had a resolution drawn up for their consideration. They held off, though, after receiving word from finance staff that the private accountant hired to reconcile the bank statements was still working to better target the difference.

The discrepancy comes from a lack of reconciliation between investments from various county funds and taxing districts and bank statements.

The accountant has been hired to do a sort of forensic tracking of bank statements and investment records to find the gap.

To do that work, commissioners have contracted Elias Siriani, an accountant with the Spokane firm of Anderson Peretti. The firm is being paid $25,000. It has already been paid $41,282 to track the difference and help prepare the 2009 financial statement.

“Once Elias is done with the reconciliation, we can go ahead,” Esther Wilson, county systems administrator who has been working as the finance department for the past eight months, told Commissioner Greg Partch. “But today, we don’t have a number.”

State auditors recommended the write-off take place before the county closes its 2010 accounts. Commissioners thought that deadline was Tuesday, but learned throughout the day they could push it back until a later date.