The Kentucky Auditor has released the annual audit conducted for Christian Fiscal Court, and her office had some findings that they wanted brought to the county’s attention.
The review of the financial statements of the Christian Fiscal Court were for the fiscal year that ended on June 30 of 2025, in accordance with state law requiring annual audits. There were four findings in that audit, with three of them repeat findings from the year before.
The Auditor’s Office says the fiscal court ‘failed to implement effective internal controls over financial reporting’, specifically citing that the fourth quarter financial statement that was submitted to the Department of Local Government was misstated by approximately $1.3 million due to posting errors. This is due to Fiscal Court entering into a debt agreement in the prior year to upgrade the county’s radio system, but the money for that wasn’t distributed until 2025. The report also finds that vehicles purchased for the sheriff’s office were omitted from the receipts and disbursements ledgers.
In response, Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam says the extra entry for the radio system debt was made due to not understanding the all the correcting entries made in the prior year. With answers in hand now, he says the county is better prepared to meet reporting requirements. Additionally, the process for the lease of sheriff vehicles has been adjusted to ensure that entries are made in the correct time period going forward.
Another repeated finding from the Auditor’s Office showed the Fiscal Court ‘had inadequate controls over disbursements resulting in noncompliance’. Noted within the report in the county’s disbursement were that five out of 68 invoices tested had purchase orders issued after the expense had already been incurred, with those five invoices totally $106,488. Also, the Fiscal Court reportedly failed to obtain three quotes prior to purchasing two vehicles in the amount of $107,400, and an agreement for the purchase and installation of a radio communications systems was not properly procured through the competitive bidding process. Expenditures for that was $605,846.
Judge Gilliam responded, saying, “At the time of purchase, the county relied in good faith on KRS 45A.050(3), which allows counties to purchase in accordance with state contracts, with the understanding that the state’s competitive process satisfied our procurement obligations. The county did not recognize that the specific master agreement then in effect still required users to obtain quotes from at least three awarded dealers before purchasing. The county acknowledges that purchasing “in accordance with” a state contract requires compliance with all procedural conditions that contract and accepts responsibility for this omission.”
The third repeat finding was ‘schedule of expenditures of federal awards (SEFA) was misstated’—the Auditor’s Officer found that the Fiscal Court’s SEFA was overstated by $389,502. Some of that was unobligated Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery that was returned to the U.S. Treasury, and $311,637 in expenditures that were not reimbursed by federal money.
In the new finding, the Auditor reported that the Fiscal Court failed to approve cash transfers prior to them being made. Sixteen cash transfers in the amount of $3.5 million were tested, and all but one were transferred before they were subsequently approved by the court.
Judge Gilliam states they are committed to implementing the auditor’s guidance going forward, with call cash transfers to be presented to Fiscal Court for approval before being made.