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the auditors eye

Winter 2025

Auditor Message:

Reflection at the mid-point and up-coming challenges

I’m at the mid-point of my term as your county auditor. I’m so proud of all the office has accomplished the last two years:


  • We’ve issued good audits with recommendations that help improve County government.
  • We are receiving public feedback on our reports and ideas on audit topics.
  • We have quarterly newsletters and post on social media to keep folks in-the-know about office projects.
  • We’ve completed a strategic plan, updated our policies and procedures, and implemented new audit software.


Go team!


Looking ahead, we are going to work on some great audits. We are also preparing for our first external quality assurance review (audit of the auditor) in 2025. I’m looking forward to getting an assessment of our office’s work and seeing areas where we can improve! While there are areas I know need some tweaks, having an outside, expert review will be extremely helpful.


I want to be up-front that we’re also going to have to approach our business differently in the next two years. For Fiscal Year 2025-26, County departments are being asked to develop budgets with reduction scenarios of 10 percent, 13 percent, and 17 percent of the their total budget. It’s a pretty sobering situation, particularly since departments, including ours, have already been through two years of cuts.


Our priority will always be to get out useful audits that help the County work better. Retaining our staff are key to doing this. The types of audits and scope and objectives will change with any cut we take. We will do fewer audits. We won’t be able to contract for outside expertise when we need it. We will likely be looking at narrower topics. If we do a bigger, broader audit, we have to go into it knowing it may be the only one we get out during the year. Our ability to provide technical assistance to other County departments will be limited.


I write this to acknowledge the challenges that Washington County, and many other jurisdictions are facing in funding services in order to meet the realities of significant property tax limitations. Our leaders are having to make some painful decisions in order to face the realities of our financial structure.


I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of Washington County as their County Auditor. I am also continually thankful for my talented team who constantly look out for ways to improve County government for the public good.

My best to you for 2025; we’ll get through this together!


Kristine Adams-Wannberg

Washington County Auditor

Auditor Gives 2024 Annual Report to Board of Commissioners

2024 Kristine Annual Report presentation

The Washington County Charter requires the County Auditor to present an annual report to the Board of Commissioners. Auditor Kristine gave her report in December and highlighted several office achievements, including:


  • Taking in feedback from the public on audit topics
  • Issuing new audit reports
  • Implementing new working paper software


She noted that the office would undergo its first-ever external quality assessment review in 2025. Check out the office’s 2024 annual report!


Two New Audits Published!


We published two audits last quarter:

American Rescue Plan Act Audit

American Rescue Plan Act Workforce Development Grant: Lessons learned show the County needs to improve accountability of results and spending


We looked at the federal money the County spent on workforce development efforts and found the County prioritized getting services into the community during the pandemic.


Like many other local governments, the County had challenges. It was not effectively prepared to administer the workforce recovery program. As a result, the County cannot say that all activities and costs the grant money supported were allowable and many program achievements could not be verified.


MSTIP Audit

Major Streets Transportation Improvement Program: Biggest challenges are inflation risk and lack of codification


The County’s MSTIP program has provided $1.1 billion over the last almost 40 years to support improving safety and reducing congestion on the county’s roads.


We found MSTIP’s most significant program risks are financial in nature. The top ones are inflation impacts, adequate funding, and the cost of time delays. These have big impacts in getting transportation projects completed. The audit found challenges related to these and other risks areas.


The audit findings fall into three areas: lack of codification, need for methods to plan for unexpected costs, and the 2017 Bicycle Facilities Policy.


Status of Audit Schedule Projects

Audit Name

Start Date

Estimated Completion

ARPA Workforce Development

April 2023

Completed

November 2024

MSTIP Risk Assessment

April 2023

Completed

December 2024

Grants Management

July 2024

TBD

Identity and Access Management

December 2024

TBD

Cash Handling

1st Quarter 2025


Emergency Rental Assistance

TBD


Call for Audit Topics!


It’s almost time! Each year, I make decisions on what to audit at the County. I receive great ideas from a wide range of folks, including the general public. I have to prioritize what audits we do to meet the resources we have; the office has been understaffed for years, and we, like other County departments, will be undergoing a third year of budget cuts. That makes audit ideas that come in VERY IMPORTANT in what I consider to audit. If you have ideas, please let us know! 


Please submit any audit ideas through our contact form. The office will be taking ideas for 2025 until February 14th.

Volunteering with the Elections Office

Getting out to see the work County programs do is important to our office. Our own Sherry Kurk volunteered to help with the November 2024 election. She went through training from the County elections office and worked with one of the big machines that open the ballots, dates and scans them.


Thank you to the Department of Assessment and Taxation's Elections Division for this valuable experience!

We’re on Social Media!


We're on Facebook and Instagram to keep you up to date on activities at the Washington County Auditor’s Office. The two accounts have similar information, please connect with us at one or both accounts to stay up-to-date!

Did You Know...


Some auditors are considered internal auditors and some are considered external auditors?


Internal auditors are those that report to senior management within the audited organization.


External auditors are those that report to third parties externally or to both internal and external parties.


The Washington County Auditor and her staff are external auditors, because the County Auditor is elected by and reports to the public. She does not report to County management.


(2024 Government Auditing Standards, 3.52)


Invite the Auditor!


If you’d like me and/or staff to attend or speak at a meeting with your community group, make a request by emailing us at:


countyauditor@washingtoncountyor.gov.

Keep in Touch


You can download and view electronic copies of our reports here.

 

Or, you can obtain copies of our reports by contacting us at:

 

Washington County Auditor’s Office

221 S. First Ave, MS 31

Hillsboro, OR 97123-3901

(503) 846-8798 | countyauditor@washingtoncountyor.gov

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