The San Benito County Council of Government has likely found
most of the more than $260,000 that could not be accounted for in
an independent audit conducted last year.
”
It was accounting errors,
”
said County Supervisor Pat Loe, who sits on the COG board.
”
The money was been found.
”
Hollister – The San Benito County Council of Government has likely found most of the more than $260,000 that could not be accounted for in an independent audit conducted last year.
“It was accounting errors,” said County Supervisor Pat Loe, who sits on the COG board. “The money was been found.”
The $261,138 discrepancy in COG’s finances, which came to light in an auditor’s report released last month, was a result of mistakes made by a county accountant and a past auditor, according to Kathy Postigo, an administrative services specialist who started doing COG’s accounting in November.
About $187,000 of the money was put into the county’s general fund – the mistake of an accountant in the county’s public works department, which previously did all of COG’s accounting – according to Postigo. She said she believes that another $67,000 was counted twice by a previous auditor. Postigo is still looking for the remainder of the missing money.
“I’m sure happy they found it, if that’s the case,” said Hollister City Councilman Robert Scattini, who sits on the COG board of directors. Scattini said he was shocked last month to discover that the money was unaccounted for.
“Mistakes like that shouldn’t be made,” he said.
During a meeting last month, the COG board discussed the missing money and voted to continue the issue to give Postigo time to find it. At that time, board members also acknowledged that the mistake, which occurred in 2003, was not the fault of current COG staff. The board will hear a report on Postigo’s progress during its Thursday meeting.
Hollister Mayor Pauline Valdivia, who sits on the COG board, said she had not yet heard if the money had been found, but she was confident that it would be.
“I wasn’t worried,” she said.
In addition to uncovering the missing money, the auditor’s report generally criticized COG’s methods of accounting. “The Council does not maintain a level of internal control that supports proper recording of revenues,” the report stated.
“I’m sure going to look into what to do to take measures to correct this,” Sacattini said.
Hiring a person dedicated to COG’s accounting, rather than relying on a county department’s accountant, is one step COG has taken toward addressing the concerns raised in the auditor’s report, according to Executive Director Tom Quigley. Postigo said she is working to make COG’s accounting more centralized.
Now that most of the missing money is likely accounted for, Loe said she is ready to talk about improving COG’s accounting methods.
“It wasn’t the best situation before,” she said.
Luke Roney covers politics and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com.
