Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 21, 1994 TAG: 9405230103
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By STEVE KARK CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
If not corrected, these problems eventually could affect the county's ability to administer federal programs, according to the audit report by Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates of Radford.
These problems were not restricted to the office of County Treasurer Rick Cook, whose record-keeping shortcomings have been publicized in the past few years. Problems also were found in other county departments.
The county already has taken steps to remedy the situation, said County Administrator Janet Tuckwiller. County officials met this month with Paul Lee, who prepared the audit report, and John Montoro, a Richmond consultant. Montoro has helped the county straighten out its accounts in the Treasurer's Office and install a new computer system there over the last 21/2 years.
The audit for the fiscal year ending June 1993 found deficiencies in tax collections and in posting the general and revenue ledger.
These deficiencies, the audit says, could adversely affect the county's ability to administer federal financial-assistance programs, such as social services or community development programs.
However, the auditors said these deficiencies have not yet caused serious errors or irregularities in the county's financial statements and likely would be detected by employees performing their normal duties.
Tuckwiller said that although the county takes the conclusions of the report seriously, she doubts that the situation it describes would significantly affect the county's federal-assistance programs.
She points out that most require updated financial reports as a normal part of applying for the federal programs, but that only one - the community development block grant program - has shown any concern for the problems identified in the report.
Nevertheless, Tuckwiller said, the county is working to correct the problems.
Lee and Montoro met with supervisors Larry "Jay" Williams and Samuel "Ted" Timberlake, Treasurer Rick Cook, School Superintendent Robert McCracken, Tuckwiller, and bookkeepers from the offices of the county administrator, the schools and the Treasurer's Office.
Tuckwiller described the meeting as ``very productive. ... I felt there was a shared willingness [among county officials] to work together to resolve these problems.''
Even Cook, who has had his share of disagreements with the supervisors in the past, said he agreed with Tuckwiller's assessment of the meeting.
``I've never denied that I had a lot to learn,'' he said. ``All I've asked is their willingness to work with me, and now I feel we've begun to work together. It was a very positive meeting.''
Contacted at his Richmond office, Montoro said he agreed with these assessments and added that there was no question the financial records are in better shape now than they were two years ago.
The county has paid Montoro & Associates $57,000 since the firm began working with the financial records. Montoro said he was hired initially to help the previous treasurer, Irene O'Dell, convert the office from a manual to a computer-based system.
``Since Mr. Cook has taken office, that conversion has been continued.''
There were problems when Cook took office, Montoro said, partly because of the new treasurer's inexperience. A similar situation could have occurred with any new treasurer taking over an office in the middle of a conversion to a computerized system, he said.
Even under the old manual system, the books were not properly kept during Cook's initial term in office, he said. But he said the situation has improved considerably.
Both Tuckwiller and Cook identified the way that items are posted in the general ledger as a major reason for the problems identified in the auditor's report.
In the past, the county would receive checks, that were occasionally entered in the wrong place on the ledger because the check had not been identified as payment to a particular account.
Under the new system worked out by county officials, all transactions will be accompanied by a transmittal form, which will be precoded to describe the transaction and identify the proper account.
In their report, the auditors said that the county's system of entering this type of information had improved over the year covered by the report. The new forms should help even more, Tuckwiller and Cook said.
by CNB