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Audit Objective

Determine whether the Legislature and County officials effectively managed the County’s financial condition.

Key Findings

• The County’s financial position has been strained for several years. Its combined funds’¹ available fund balance as of December 31, 2017 totaled only $1.9 million or .13 percent of gross expenditures, after $12.4 million in one-time increases that are unlikely to recur.
• The County relied on $65 million in revenue anticipation notes and $30.85 million in reported general fund interfund advances to cover deficit cash balances in 2017.
• The County does not have sufficient general fund balance to mitigate significant revenue shortages or unanticipated expenditures.

Key Recommendations

• Identify ways to increase recurring revenues or decrease recurring expenditures to improve the County’s financial condition.
• Take measures to ensure the County generates and maintains adequate fund balance and cash flow in all funds.
• Develop a sustainable plan to phase out the general fund’s subsidizing of the solid waste fund.

County officials generally disagreed with our findings and recommendations. Appendix B includes our comments on issues raised in the County’s response (Appendix A).

1 Combined funds include the general and road funds and all enterprise funds.