Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Muddled fiscal records that have left Luzerne County and its Children and Youth agency unsure how much money is owed to each other were again discussed at this week’s council work session.
The county was unable to provide supporting records for $2.5 million in agency funds in 2017, auditor Lisa A. Ritter, of Maher Duessel, told council in a Nov. 5 briefing. Financial statements also show the county’s general fund operating budget owes Children and Youth $5.6 million, which the county administration confirmed in writing in 2015, Ritter had said.
Delays completing the agency’s audit caused the county’s overall audit to be released at the end of September, or three months after the home rule government’s June 30 deadline, officials have said.
At a work session this week, Councilwoman Linda McClosky Houck questioned why the administration has not fulfilled its promise at the Nov. 5 briefing to provide council with a copy of a 2017 audit findings report referenced by Ritter, whose firm has wrapped up a four-year contract auditing the agency.
McClosky Houck said Ritter showed her a copy of the findings during the briefing because it referenced the $2.5 million in unsupported documentation, and Ritter said the county had received a copy.
“She said that should have been available to council, and so I thought we were told at the meeting that there was no problem with us getting it,” McClosky Houck said.
County Manager C. David Pedri said he is happy to comply but was waiting until all requested information was obtained so it would not be furnished “piecemeal.”
Pedri said McClosky Houck also asked for supporting documents, and Ritter has declined to turn over working papers. The solicitor’s office is now involved to determine what information must be supplied under the contract, he said.
McClosky Houck said she has two chief requests — the findings report referenced by Ritter and the document signed by the administration that it owes Children and Youth $5.6 million.
Pedri said he never saw the signed document about the $5.6 million and has been unsuccessful obtaining a copy from the auditor.
“I referred the matter to the solicitor’s office for their full and complete review. Maybe the documents are in the possession of the county somewhere, but I’d prefer to have it all from one source,” Pedri said, promising to release available documents immediately.
‘Real embarrassment’
Contacted Wednesday, McClosky Houck said she received some of the requested information from the administration late Wednesday afternoon and was in the process of reviewing it.
Pedri said the county is bringing in outside auditors to review bills and reimbursements between the county and agency dating to 2008, when the $5.6 million allegedly owed to the agency first surfaced. Another past audit says the agency owes the county $6 million, he said.
“It’s got to be done over again,” Pedri said, referring to who owes what.
Councilman Harry Haas said he believes prior auditors should have been more proactive resolving the problem.
“It’s a real embarrassment,” Haas said of the fiscal uncertainty.
Council Chairman Tim McGinley said he spoke to auditors who handled the agency’s audit 10 to 12 years ago and was informed problems existed back then over the proper amount of reimbursement owed to Children and Youth.
“It has been an ongoing issue for many years, and this year it came to a head,” McGinley said. “It’s not something that just all of a sudden turned up. It’s something that’s been going on for many, many years.”