A state audit report has been released on Palo Alto county.
According to the report from State Auditor Rob Sand, Palo Alto county’s revenues for the fiscal year that ended June 30th, 2022 totaled over 20-million dollars…a nearly 15-percent decrease from the previous year. The significant decrease in revenues is due to a decrease in contributions from the Iowa Department of Transportation for road infrastructure, a decrease in drainage district assessments and reimbursements, and a decrease in FEMA revenues.
Expenses for Palo Alto county operations totaled over 17-million dollars…a decrease of 9.5-percent from the prior year.
Auditor Sand reported five findings related to the receipt and expenditure of taxpayer funds. The findings address issues such as a lack of segregation of duties, material amounts of receivables, payables and capital assets not properly recorded in the county’s financial statements, donations to private non-profit entities, and a deficit balance in the Special Revenue Drainage District Fund. Four of the five finds are repeated from the previous year. Sand provided Palo Alto county with recommendations to address each of the findings.
