 - The Fremont County School District 25 Recreation Board is working with the Wyoming Department of Audit to address several deficiencies that haven't been resolved since they were identified in an audit five years ago.){kind=link}
(Riverton, WY) – The Fremont County School District 25 Recreation Board is working with the Wyoming Department of Audit to address several deficiencies that haven’t been resolved since they were identified in an audit five years ago.
In a follow-up audit report that was issued last month, the Wyoming Department of Audit said the Recreation Board “did not make adequate progress towards correcting the audit findings” that were outlined in 2020.
Specifically, the follow-up report says six of the nine deficiencies identified in 2020 “would still be considered findings today.”
Those unresolved findings include:
- incorrectly reported cash (no progress made)
- a lack of written policies and procedures for reporting (no progress made)
- a lack of written policies and procedures for reimbursements, record retention, disaster recovery, expenditure, and cash policy and procedures (no progress made)
- reimbursements not supported with detailed receipts and mileage not verified with an appropriate map destination calculator (partial progress)
- no approved investment policy (no progress made)
- no budget submitted to the department of audit (no progress made)
Riverton City Councilmember Karen Johnson expressed particular concern about the first finding in the follow-up report, which states that “revenues were under-reported by $16,710, expenditures were under-reported by $29,603, and there was a negative discrepancy of $125,482 compared to the Wyo-Star check register.”
“There is a substantial amount of money that does not match the check register,” Johnson said during a Riverton City Council meeting last month. “The treasurer is working to find the inconsistencies.”
Cody Beers has served as Riverton Recreation Board Treasurer for the past two years, and he said he was a member of the Rec Board when the “random audit” was conducted in 2020.
At that time, he recalled, “the previous treasurer and president worked on the initial audit, while providing monthly updates to board members.”
“I don’t know why all the findings of the initial audit weren’t addressed,” Beers said this week, noting that he also wasn’t aware that the deficiencies had never been resolved. “We are working with the Audit Department to provide information needed to close this follow-up audit.”
Rec Board members are volunteer appointees, Beers pointed out, and the group “desires to conduct the business of the board as spelled out by the laws of the State of Wyoming.”
This year’s follow-up report indicates that the Recreation Board adequately addressed three of the nine findings that were identified in 2020, including:
- Wyo-Star activity was not recorded in the check register
- three of the four signatories were not bonded
- no perjury statements were available for tested expenditures
“It appears that they have made progress in adding Wyo-Star to the accounting system and a check register has been provided for review, but it is still important to record multiple accounts for greater financial clarity and control,” the report states. “Sufficient progress has been made in getting signatories bonded, with three out of three having provided bonds, (and) the district fulfilled the … requirement of having perjury statements for all expenditures. Out of the six expenditures tested, all six had signed perjury statements attached. This is a significant step towards transparency and accountability in public spending. By having these statements, it helps that all financial transactions are properly documented and verified, reducing the risk of fraud and misuse of public funds.”
The Riverton Recreation Board distributes tax funding generated from the one-mill levy authorized by state legislation, according to its website.
“It is the philosophy of the board to fund recreational projects with far reaching benefits and those reaching the majority of School District 25 patrons,” the website states. “The board annually awards over $100,000 to deserving groups in an effort to make Riverton a more recreation-friendly city.”