Barton County commissioners were enraged to learn Tuesday morning that shortcomings found by auditors in the beleaguered Treasurer’s Office had still not been rectified, thus preventing Adams, Brown, Beran and Ball from conducting the 2013 audit and delaying the county’s entire budget-planning process.
“These problems are serious and impact county operations,” said County Administrator Richard Boeckman. Should the Commission not be able to meet its requirement by the mandated deadline, the county would be out of compliance with state statutes.
What started as a review of the audit erupted into a scathing rebuke of County Treasurer Kevin Wondra. Commissioners placed the blame for the quagmire on what they called a lack of leadership on Wondra’s part.
At issue are tax rolls and county bank accounts that have not been reconciled, some dating back as far as May of last year, meaning the office was already not meeting statutory guidelines. Without this crucial information, the auditors do not have complete numbers on which to base their work, Boeckman said.
“The oversight is not there,” said Amber Littler of ABBB. She said her firm gave Wondra ample time to comply, but now they have no faith that the office can get the job done.
Furthermore, ABBB has a statutory deadline of July 1 to complete its audit. Littler said this may not be possible now.
In the end, a frustrated Commission voted 4-1 to contract with Computer Information Concepts (CIC) to clean up the reconciliation mess for a cost of no more than $20,000. CIC is the company from which Barton County purchased its new county-wide bookkeeping system.
The firm will do the reconciling, with Treasurer’s Office staff watching, said CIC’s Pam Meadows. But, time is of the essence.
CIC will also offer additional training for department personnel as part of the arrangement.
In past confrontations with the Commission, Wondra said problems converting to the new system delayed his department from completing the tasks.
“The emphasis now is to get the job done,” Commission Chairman Kenny Schremmer said.
The county treasurer is an elected position. So, due to the separation of powers, the Commission cannot require Wondra do anything. “It’s frustrating being on the Commission,” Commissioner Jennifer Schartz said.
There is at least one county in Kansas that appoints its treasurer. But, such a switch requires a public vote.
“I do agree we need assistance,” Wondra said. He said he did not ignore ABBB and the deadlines, but faced issues with inexperienced staff members and a lack of time.
Wondra was first elected to the office in October 2007 by the Republican Precinct committee to complete the term of the retired Jan Karlin. He then won election to full terms in November 2008 and November 2012.

The extent of the problem
Boeckman said ABBB was in the county offices last week, preparing for the 2013 audit when they learned the discrepancies had not been resolved. “They were unable to complete the audit.”
Basically, without the numbers from the tax rolls and bank accounts, the county’s total revenue and total expenditures cannot be determined. These are necessary to come up with the amount of cash the county will carry over into the following year, figures needed to determine the mill levy.
Without the mill levy, there can be no budget, he said.
In fact, Boeckman said, the audit itself is mandated by state law. Government must be fully accountable to those it represents and an independent review of the finances assures this.
Littler and her team first found problems with the tax rolls and bank accounts. “This should not be a surprise,” Boeckman said.
Boeckman said assurances were made in January and April by Wondra that the problems would be resolved.
Wondra and his office came under fire last fall, which lead to the Commission reluctantly approving the hiring of a new, full-time analyst to help balance the books. He was again in the hot seat in May when it was learned the reconciliation still wasn’t done and this failure would cost the county extra in fees from ABBB.
Tax roll reconciliation involves making sure all the adjustments made to incoming taxes (in the form of abatements, refunds, and added and escaped taxes) balances with the money in the county’s tax fund. This was a difficult year for officials in that they started the tax season with one software system and concluded with a new one.
The tax rolls in question have been unresolved since late last year and are for taxes from 2012.
The banking issue involves a series of accounts at one local banking institution. Some of these have not been balanced since April 2013.
“We’re not confident the treasurer can perform the job,” Boeckman said. The county starts its budget season in three weeks.
Boeckman gave the Commission three options – have Finance Officer Jessica Wilson reconcile the books (she would have to be trained and time is running out), hire a CIC employee to come in on weekends (this would also take too long) or hire CIC to come in and tackle the matter (which is what the Commission opted to do).
“Time is the issue,” he said. This process will likely take as long as three weeks.

A number of issues
The county went live with the CIC software last May. At the time, Littler said, the Treasurer’s Office received training and, after it was over, thought the data was being entered correctly.
But, it was not.
Among other things, this all means January tax distributions were late getting out, constituting a statute violation that ABBB will have to report, Littler said. It also means that May distributions may be delayed.
In addition, ABBB found that the county has paid in nearly double what it is required to into the state’s Heritage Trust Fund, which helps preserve historic sites in Kansas. Do the lack of checks and balances, Littler said the county over paid by $7,000, money the county might not be able to get back.
She said the treasurer’s staff wants to learn, but there is no guidance.
“The county is going to incur additional costs” because of the extra time ABBB will need.  The deadline to have the work done is July 1.
CIC’s Meadows told the Commission that all the information from the old system was transferred to the CIC system according to plans. There were also many hours of training offered. “We’ve done our part,” she said.
She did note that Wondra was absent from most of the training last spring. “I don’t believe there is a good understanding of money moving from account to account and in and out.”
To create the analyst position, one part-time job was eliminated. The person who was cut was the only person in the office who had dealt with the reconciliation process.
Wondra said he was going to ask the employee to stay on until the reconciliation was completed, but she resigned before he had the chance, leaving no chance to train someone new. “She became upset, packed her stuff and left. She felt betrayed.”
Wondra’s actions led to resignation and the Commission also questioned these decisions.
However, Wondra said he felt confident at the time his staff could get the job done. But, time ran short and he kept getting interrupted by the day-to-day functions of the office.
“This is your responsibility,” Commissioner Don Davis said. “Why aren’t you fulfilling your responsibility?”
Wondra admitted there was a lack of cross-training and a shortage of checks and balances. “I assumed things were OK. I probably should have gone back and checked.”
He took responsibility for the department’s failures and said there were several lapses in how the staff members performed their duties.
“You keep throwing other peoples’ names in here,” Davis said. “It sounds like you are passing the buck.”
He also said perhaps Wondra should put in more time in the office. “That’s management.”
“There’s a lot that goes on in that office,” Wondra said, adding he is in the office early and leaves late.
Schartz said perhaps Wondra spent to much time working with customers and too little time on the operation of the office, which is responsible for tracking the county’s flow of funds.  
Now, the county has to pay extra, Schartz said. “This money wouldn’t have to be spent if you had been doing your work. You’re not doing your job.”
“We’ve spent a  lot of money already,” Schremmer said.
Wondra assured the Commission that the additional training would be sufficient to get the situation solved.
Ultimately, the contract with CIC was OKed. Voting for it were Davis, Schartz, Schremmer and Ken Lebbin.
Commissioner Homer Kruckenberg was the lone nay vote.