The San Benito County Council of Governments cannot account for
more than $260,000, according to an independent auditor’s report
released this week that also states that the agency does a poor job
of tracking its money.
Hollister – The San Benito County Council of Governments cannot account for more than $260,000, according to an independent auditor’s report released this week that also states that the agency does a poor job of tracking its money.
“The Council does not maintain a level of internal control that supports proper recording of revenues,” the auditor’s report states. “Furthermore, the Council was unable to reconcile its cash to the prior year’s audited amount, resulting in a difference of $261,138 as of June 30, 2004.”
Hollister Mayor Pauline Valdivia, who also serves as chairwoman of the COG board, said she will schedule a public study session to figure out where the money is.
“What I see, the money is in the county,” she said, adding that it’s possible the money was misdirected to another county department.
Tom Quigley, COG’s executive director, did not to respond to several phone messages left Wednesday.
Supervisor Anthony Botelho, who sits on the COG board, said that he also wants to work in public to discover what happened to the unaccounted for money.
“What we should do is have everything above board. This has to be a transparent process,” he said. “We need to have a complete understanding of why this money is not accounted for.”
The auditor’s report also criticized COGs accounting practices and stated that there were many times when funds were put into the wrong account.
“(COG’s) system of internal control, in our opinion, is not adequate to provide safeguards of assets and assure proper recording of transactions,” the report states.
COG hired an accountant about six months ago, according to Botelho. Prior to that the county was in charge of COG’s accounting. Botelho says the audit report is a sign that COG needs to do something about how it tracks its revenue.
“I think we need to revise our accounting practices and make sure they are generally acceptable governmental practices,” he said.
But, he emphasized, this is the first time COG has had such a discrepancy.
“Past audits reflected no problem. This audit reflects a problem,” Botelho said. “I’m trying to give everybody the benefit of the doubt about what’s going on here.”
Hollister Councilman Robert Scattini, who sits on the COG board, was agitated by the audit report.
“I want answers on this,” he said. “That’s not going to fly, not for me.”
Scattini, who was appointed to the COG board in January, also hinted at a deeper dissatisfaction with COG and its director, who, according to Scattini, spends too much time out of the county.
“I’ve never been happy with COG from the get go, with how it was run,” he said. “It’s time he (Quigley) stays here and keeps his eye on the farm.”
Luke Roney covers politics and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com
