The Washington State Auditor's office presented its 2024 accountability audit to Franklin County commissioners on Dec. 3, saying the county complied with the state laws, contracts and policies reviewed but should tighten oversight of some vendor contracts.

"Our audit found the county's operations complied with these requirements in the areas we reviewed," audit lead Debbie O'Leary told the board, while noting that not every transaction or area is examined in an accountability audit. She said the audit covered the period Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2024, and used a risk-based approach to select areas for testing including contracts for medical services, court cash receipting, payroll, general disbursements and certain state grants.

O'Leary said auditors followed up on a prior finding about contract monitoring and determined the prior issues were "materially resolved," but identified one outstanding concern. "When we reviewed the contracted billings from the medical services provider for two months, we identified about $48,000 that was charged that was more than the contracted amount," she said, adding the county did not have a process for obtaining documentation such as time records from the medical services provider to support hours billed.

The auditors recommended the county strengthen oversight and monitoring over the jail medical services contract and obtain documentation to assure amounts paid match actual hours worked. The full management-letter detail is provided to county management (referenced in the auditors' packet, p.15) and the audit report is expected to be published on the auditor's website in about one to two weeks, O'Leary said.

Commissioners pressed auditors on cost and scope: the accountability audit excerpt in the packet shows a $32,000 estimate for the accountability audit, while the combined estimate for financial, federal and accountability audits is roughly $122,000. O'Leary explained the three audit types have different budgeted hours and that the financial audit generally requires the most staff hours; the federal-aid audit cost can vary based on the county's federal spending.

The auditors also said they reviewed two state grants (solid waste management and a community litter cleanup program) and board meeting minutes and executive sessions as part of the engagement. The office noted audit costs aligned with the engagement letter estimate and that the next scheduled audits will cover 2025 financial, federal and accountability scopes.

The county will receive the final audit publication and can sign up for notifications from the State Auditor's Office when the report posts. The board did not take action on the audit itself beyond the presentation and questions.

The auditors opened the meeting for commissioner questions and provided clarifications about scope, costs and next steps.