JASPER — The Newton County passed a lone ordinance at its regular monthly meeting held Monday night, Oct. 7. With no other business and no comments presented by the public the meeting adjourned in less than 5 minutes.
The only ordinance was a housekeeping matter. It amended the employees and comp for the Newton County Road Department. County Judge Warren Campbell assured the justices of the peace the ordinance did not provide raises for the road departments employees. He said the ordinance reflects the department's current number of employees and their compensation. The information will be available for the county's annual audit by the state.
JPs recently received the Legislative Audit report for the year ended Dec. 31, 2022.
The report found:
"We identified a certain deficiency in internal control, described below as item 2022-1, that we consider to be a material weakness.
"2022-1 Arkansas Code requires County management to maintain accurate financial records. General Fund financial records contained errors due to misclassifications of revenues of $350,415. The effects of these misstatements constitute a significant control deficiency in the process of preparing financial records. We recommend County management implement procedures to ensure that all revenues are properly classified.
The County Treasurer concurred with the above recommendation and approved the appropriate entries to the County’s financial records.
"We would like to communicate the following items that came to our attention during this audit. The purpose of such comments is to provide constructive feedback and guidance, in an effort to assist management in maintaining a satisfactory level of compliance with the state constitution, laws and regulations, and to improve internal control. These matters were discussed previously with County officials during the course of our audit fieldwork and at the exit conference.
County Judge and County/Circuit Clerk
During correction of a payroll deduction error, the County erroneously refunded $3,167 to an employee. Based on a review of records, the amount of the incorrect deduction was $1,439, resulting in an overpayment of $1,728 to the employee.
The County paid $4,435 for unused accumulated sick leave to an employee who resigned, in noncompliance with the County’s personnel policy, which states, 'Employees who RETIRE from the County shall be paid up to 30 days for accumulated sick leave.'”
"County/Circuit Clerk
"The remaining balances in the Circuit Bond Trust accounts were not identified with receipts issued but not yet settled. A similar finding was noted in the previous report.
Sheriff
"The following items were noted in an analysis of the Sheriff’s Commissary account:
• Bank reconciliations were not prepared in accordance with Ark. Code Ann. § 14-25-107.
• The balance remaining in the account was not completely identified in the amount of $25,846. • Profits earned from commissary sales were not remitted to the County Treasurer."
The report was formally accepted by the court.
The report is available for public review at:
https://arklegaudit.gov/downloadReport.php?id=LOCO05122
