New Mexico - Roosevelt County audited; Treasurer blames computer glitches

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(Highlights in italics - mine)

Web posted Tuesday, February 22, 2000, 4:45 a.m. CT

Roosevelt audit finds more issues

By JANET BRESENHAM, Globe-News Staff Writer

PORTALES, N.M. - Roosevelt County's preliminary audit findings for the previous fiscal year show more problems in the county treasurer's office, many of which are the same problems noted a year ago, auditor Terry Cone said Monday.

Cone said the audit findings are the worst he has seen in the five years his certified public accounting firm has contracted to perform the annual audit for Roosevelt County.

Most of the longstanding problems involve the failure of the Roosevelt County Treasurer's Office to submit required timely financial reports to the Roosevelt County Commission and to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, Cone said.

Other problems include delinquent distribution of taxes to other agencies, failure to prepare receipts for all money received and failure to forward the required portion of marriage license fees to the state on a monthly basis, Cone said.

Ultimately, Roosevelt County taxpayers "could suffer for all of this" because a questionable audit likely will result in higher interest rates from bonding companies doing business with the county, Cone said.

While the county audit for July 1, 1997, through June 30, 1998, found eight deficiencies in County Treasurer Arla Hitson's office, the new audit findings for July 1, 1998, through June 30, 1999, show 21 deficiencies involving Hitson's office.

The early audit findings found seven correctable deficiencies concerning other areas of county government, Cone said.

Hitson, who has been in office since Jan. 1, 1997, on Monday said she thinks she has taken care of all the problems. Hitson continued to blame problems in her office on alleged computer glitches.

But Cone and county and state officials disagree, saying Hitson still has not been submitting timely financial reports as required under state law.

Cone, his staff and county officials also said they do not think the computer program is to blame for the proliferation of deficiencies in Hitson's office.

Roosevelt County Commission Chairman Jake Lopez and other county commissioners said they have grown increasingly frustrated with persistent problems in the county treasurer's office but can do little about the situation.

The Roosevelt County Commission does not directly control the county treasurer's office because the treasurer is an elected official, Commissioner David McDermid said.

Last year, Roosevelt County Commissioners asked the Department of Finance and Administration, the agency authorized to take action against the treasurer, to step in and investigate similar problems with procedures and operations in the county treasurer's office.

The final audit report will not be completed until county officials respond to the preliminary findings reported by Cone.

But the findings of deficiencies were discussed Monday afternoon in a lengthy audit exit interview conference with representatives from the state auditor's office.

Roosevelt County Commissioners said although they were not required to open the exit interview to the public, they chose to open it so county residents could be aware of the problems.

Source: Amarillo Globe-News of Texas

http://www.amarillonet.com/stories/022200/new_audit.shtml

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), March 15, 2000


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