CLEARFIELD – During the public comment portion at a recent Clearfield County Commissioners meeting, commissioner candidate David Glass stated several concerns he has about the recently-released 2018 county audit and the 2020 budget process currently underway.
On the audit, the commissioners stated, “The recently-completed audit from Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC is a clean audit that shows Clearfield County Government is in good financial standing across all funds with a positive fund balance of $3.9 million dollars.
“While it is correct that the $3.9 million fund balance at the end of 2018 is down from $4.2 million at the end of 2017, it is notable that the unassigned (available cash) portion of the fund balance has actually increased from $353,958 at the end of 2017 to $1,718,117 at the end of 2018.
“It is correct that the 2018 audit shows a deficit. However, the deficit was caused directly by cost overruns in two areas – the county jail due to inmate overpopulation and Children and Youth Service due to additional family investigations.
“Cost overruns at both the jail and CYS are directly attributable to the increase in crime and drug abuse and are controlled by decisions made by the courts, which the county commissioners have no control over.”
On the no debt status that Clearfield County Government currently enjoys, the commissioners stated: “We feel it is fiscally responsible to keep the county out of debt unless absolutely necessary. One cannot build up reserves by going into substantial debt. That’s simple math.
“The last major long-term borrowing done by Clearfield County was around 2010 for the administration building project. In recent years, two major maintenance projects were done on the courthouse with exterior painting and brick façade repair. More recently, the furnace/boiler system was replaced. All projects were paid from out of available cash reserves.
“In early 2020, the commissioners are mandated to buy new voting equipment. There will be some state reimbursement for this purchase. Unfortunately, most of the cost will rest on the shoulders of the county taxpayers.”
The commissioners continued stating, “Candidate Glass also commented on a minor correction made by auditors Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC that resulted in $625,000 being place in the correct reporting column as required by General Accounting Standards Board Rules.
“Any opinion that these funds were transferred to bolster the general fund balance is false. It can be verified that these funds were included in every annual audit as part of the total balance of all county government funds.
“They simply had been incorrectly listed since 2010in prior annual audits under ‘total non-major funds’ and should have been listed under ‘general funds.’ The current auditors simply corrected an accounting error made by those previously responsible for the same.”
On Glass’ concern about the county contracting a budget consultant, the commissioners stated: “Several weeks ago, County Controller Tom Adamson informed the commissioners his office would not assist with preparation of the 2020 county budget.
“While it has been long-standing practice in Clearfield County for 20 years for the controller to be involved in the budget process, there are no provisions in the County Code requiring the controller’s involvement.
“On short notice, we investigated the options available to fill the void in the budget preparation process and identified Susquehanna Accounting & Consulting Solutions because they assist a number of counties, including neighboring Jefferson County, on budgeting and financial matters.
“It has not been determined if their involvement will be just for the 2020 budget preparation or will be an ongoing relationship into the future.
“As for Glass’ concern that county officials aren’t working together, the commissioners assure everyone that all elected officials of both political parties and all appointed department directors (with the exception of the controller) are working together, as in prior years, to complete the 2020 Clearfield County budget.
“Budget hearings are scheduled for Oct. 16, 17 and 18, and the commissioners, with assistance from Susquehanna Accounting & Consulting Solutions, will complete a 2020 budget document that will be presented and adopted on time.”
The commissioners concluded by noting, “Clearfield County Government is fully transparent with all financial records. The 2018 audit is available for anyone to review and the 2020 budget document will be on display on the county Web site as soon as the tentative budget is adopted in a few weeks.”