Audit reveals new county tax error

An audit reviewing the county’s finances during the 2012-2013 fiscal year reveals a new count-wide taxing error. Lincoln County Clerk and Recorder Tammy Lauer said tnhis one was not her fault.

The financial statement findings of the audit conducted by Denning, Downey and Associates said the county’s permissive medical levy exceeded the allowed mills. The county levied 19.76 mills, while the allowed mills were 17.75. The mistake levied $72,895 beyond what was due.

The audit says a combination of missteps led to the excessive taxation, but Lauer said she was only following recommendations from a previous Denning, Downey and Associates employee.

“She was assisting me in figuring the permissive levies, and her instruction led to the error,” Lauer said. “I told them, ‘Look, I admit it when I’m wrong, but I was only doing what I was told.’ I think they just wanted to write down something after missing the other (error). By the time we found it, it was already fixed.”

Lauer said the $73,000 error was somewhat offset the following year when the similarly miscalculated levy resulted in tax revenue that was 0.79 mills less than what was due. She said the next budget will deduct the remaining 1.22 mills to account for the difference.

County Commissioner Tony Berget said an audit conducted late last year after it was revealed that the county had miscalculated taxes for more than a decade could not have found the medical levy error.

“That audit looked at gross proceeds and special districts,” Berget said. “The auditor looked back into previous years with the medical levy, and the way I understand it the error did not go back further.”

Commissioner Greg Larson said he would rather not comment on the matter as he was still acquainting himself with the county’s finances.

The audit does not qualify the county as a low-risk auditee.

A matter of noncompliance was also noted in the audit. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) requires an actuarial valuation performed every two years to help calculate Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) obligations. The audit said the county did not report the liability.

Bill Bischoff, executive assistant for the board of Lincoln County commissioners, said there was conversation from the Legislature that could have potentially taken the responsibility to track such information out of local government’s hands. He said the Public Employment Retirement System will handle the information going forward.