Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Buzz Trexler
Star Correspondent

An annual audit of Carter County’s financial management by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury has resulted in five findings and recommendations, but the report noted “the county had made significant improvements” in financial management practices.

According to the Division of Local Government, the audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, again reported findings in the Office of Finance Director that included accounting records for various funds had not been properly maintained, and there were deficiencies in the budget operations.

The report included corrective-action statements from Carter County Finance Director Carolyn Watson, who wrote with respect to the repeat finding of deficiencies in the budget operations, “Changes in staff and department directors created an additional learning process for staff and departments.” Watson wrote that the plan for corrective action includes:

— Reviewing the annual budget approved by the Carter County Commission and verifying all budget amendments are balanced and approved by the commission.
— Reviewing departmental budgets with directors and elected officials to ensure budgets are not overspent at year-end.
— Reviewing budgeted beginning balances and updating for the 2025–26 fiscal year.
— Taking additional measures during year-end closing to correct deficiencies and review salary appropriation lines.

With respect to the repeat finding that records for various funds had not been properly maintained, Watson wrote that this issue has already been corrected. “Additional journal entries were provided by the Audit Team at the May audit follow-up meeting,” Watson wrote. “Those entries were made by Finance Department staff on May 28, 2024. Other adjusting entries had already been completed by Finance Department staff prior to that meeting.”

The finance director also wrote, “Finance staff will make sure that accounts are reviewed periodically, and any needed adjustments will be made at that time.”

In a detailed report on the financial statements, the audit stated, “It should be noted that for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, the county had made significant improvements in reporting and reconciling general ledger account balances.”

Among the five financial management findings in the fiscal year 2023 audit, three were reported as having been corrected: deficiencies in posting of journal entries; deficiencies in the maintenance of capital asset records; and amounts withheld from contractor payments not being deposited into an escrow account.

The fiscal year 2024 audit report also noted, “The office had purchasing deficiencies.” This was not a repeat finding, and the planned corrective action stated, “Additional measures have been implemented to assure that purchases above the $25,000 follow the appropriate procedures and state statutes.”

The audit report also found that collections in the Office of Solid Waste Management were not deposited properly. According to the written response from Solid Waste Management Director Chris Schuettler, “Previous office manager failed to implement corrective action and is no longer here.” The response noted that corrective action had been under way since June 2024 and included:

— “The landfill will make one deposit with the total cash collected for each day to match the cash report from the scale software system within three days of collection instead of multiple deposits for each day spread out.”
— “Little Milligan deposits are brought to the landfill each Thursday and deposited by the following business day.”
— “Roan Mountain will be making deposits more often to be within the three-day period and reflecting the correct days and ticket numbers.”

The remaining of the five findings in the 2024 report was in the Office of Circuit and General Sessions Courts Clerk, where auditors found the office did not review its software audit logs. Circuit Court Clerk Johnny Blankenship’s written response stated, “The audit logs were immediately reviewed in April 2024, when we were made aware of the oversight.”

The state’s fiscal year 2023 audit reported 10 findings, six of which were a repeat of the findings found in an audit of the fiscal year 2022.