Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The Office of Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy concluded its audit of the Town of Albion last week, issuing a report Dec. 7 of compliance with applicable state requirements and control over safeguarding public resources.
The results come after a disputed audit three years ago that led to a mediator being assigned from Olympia.
The state’s 2012-2014 Albion report found the town lacked in internal controls over key operations, noting it failed to maintain records in an organized manner. It also noted problems with payroll and the Open Public Meetings act.
The new audit – covering 2015-16 – states that corrective action has been fully taken, acknowledging the town’s response from 2014, when it disputed that records were unable to be found. Since then, adjustments were made for payroll expenditures, work leave issues and updated time cards to reflect earned overtime. The new audit also stated all remaining payroll issues have been corrected.
“It was a fantastic audit,” said Starr Cathey, Albion clerk/treasurer. “The auditors were amazing. They spoke to me, as before that didn’t necessarily happen. They were very thorough. I mean very, very thorough. They really impressed me, even if the findings had been negative.”
Auditors spent two weeks on-site in Albion in October, concluding with an exit conference Dec. 1.
“I want to give credit to the council members, the mayor, the staff and the auditors,” said Cathey.
The limited audit examined areas of highest risk of fraud, loss, abuse or noncompliance. These included: utility billings/receivables, self-insurance requirements, open public meetings minutes, payroll/personnel and financial condition, review of meeting minutes for compliance with the Open Meetings Act, internal controls over assets, revenues and disbursements, verifying that annual reports were submitted to the State Auditor complete and timely filed, review of the Town’s annual revenues and expenditures for unusual transactions and trends, and corroborating financial information reported by the Town by a comparison of cash and investment balances to third-party sources.
The audit spans Jan. 1, 2015 to Dec. 31, 2016.
The town of more than 600 people has two full-time and two part-time employees. Annual expenditures were $525,792 in 2015 and $583,734 for 2016.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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