Lake County’s Chronically Poor Audit Results Continue
The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office audit of Lake County government for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 shows familiar problems and persistent weaknesses within the county’s financial management practices.
The audit report contains 11 findings. Although the county corrected six of its fiscal year 2022 audit findings, it added five new ones in fiscal year 2023. Lake County’s audits have contained at least seven findings since 2018.
Each of the past six annual audits included findings related to material audit adjustments, accounting deficiencies, and budget deficiencies. These are serious internal control and management issues that have not been addressed within the County Mayor’s and Director of Schools’ offices.
In addition to the issues noted above, auditors also found other problems including the Office of Road Superintendent’s failure to solicit competitive bids when it purchased a $507,890 excavator. The audit also noted that a Comptroller’s Office investigation released in November 2023 disclosed that a former jail administrator misappropriated at least $35,159 of inmate commissary funds.
“While Lake County is one of the least populated counties in our state (pop. 6,507), it continues to have an outsized number of findings each year,” said Comptroller Mumpower. “The only two counties smaller than Lake, Van Buren (pop. 6,429) and Pickett (pop. 5,107), had four and three findings, respectively, in fiscal year 2023. Good financial management is possible and expected in counties of all sizes.”
It should be noted that some offices within Lake County government did not have any findings in this year’s audit report. These offices include the County Clerk, Trustee, Clerk and Master, Register of Deeds, Assessor of Property, and the Circuit, General Sessions, and Juvenile Courts Clerk.
To view all Tennessee audit reports, click here.
If you suspect fraud, waste, or abuse of public money in Tennessee, call the Comptroller’s toll-free hotline at 800.232.5454, or file a report online at: tncot.cc/fraud. Follow us on twitter @TNCOT and Instagram @tncot.
Media contact: John Dunn, Director of Communications, 615.401.7755 or john.dunn@cot.tn.gov
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