Pasco has plans to avoid a repeat of the errors that state auditors found in the city's 2008 audit after the city provided numbers that didn't add up.
Pasco City Manager Gary Crutchfield said the errors created a perception that something was wrong with the city's finances, but no money was missing or misused.
Crutchfield said some 2007 numbers were provided by the city for the 2008 audit and other numbers didn't add up. For example, the city didn't have the right dollar number for the value of roads and utilities that private developers built and then gave to the city, he said.
The errors occurred because the city wasn't able to accurately complete its audit report by the May 30 deadline, he said. He said the city's accounting supervisor quit in March, right as the city was starting to prepare audit financial reports.
That meant the finance manager completed the report solo, short on time and without a second set of eyes to check data.
And then the finance manager left in the fall, just as the city was working with the state auditor to fix errors, he said.
All of the wrong numbers in the financial reports have since been fixed, Crutchfield said.
The state charges cities for the audit, and if the auditor has to spend more time on the audit and any errors the city has to pay more, said Stan Strebel, assistant city manager.
Crutchfield said the city has a plan to get its 2009 audit right the first time. At least for this year, and maybe next, the city will hire a certified public accountant to review the financial reports before the city submits them to the state, he said.
He said a new accounting supervisor has been hired but the city still is looking for a qualified finance manager.
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Tri-City officals mull how to avoid future scandals
Tri-City officals mull how to avoid future scandals
In the wake of a recent scandal involving an estimated $1 million allegedly embezzled from Franklin County, Mid-Columbia residents are asking how it happened -- and could it happen again in another agency?
While one Tri-City official admitted that even the best safeguards won't prevent a dishonest individual from defrauding a public agency, officials in the Tri-Cities say they have pretty good checks and balances in place.
In the Franklin County incident, Dennis Huston, 65, of Pasco, is being investigated on suspicion of setting up a payment account for a defunct company, then pocketing the checks the county cut to the company for possibly a decade.
Franklin County examines procedures after embezzlement turmoil
Franklin County examines procedures after embezzlement turmoil
Editor's note: On Monday, the Herald looks at how public agencies in the Tri-Cities try to prevent embezzlement of funds.
PASCO -- Less than eight months after Dennis Huston was released from federal custody for stealing taxpayer money, he was hired as an accountant for Franklin County.
Almost 23 years later, he is suspected of using a similar scheme of embezzling money through a fake company to support a cocaine habit. Investigators say he might have stolen more than $1 million in the past decade.
State auditors keeping an eye on Tri-City government bodies
State auditors keeping an eye on Tri-City government bodies
If fraud is going on in any local governing agency in the Tri-Cities, a team of state auditors based in Kennewick will be looking to find it.
"It is an integral part of what we do," said Kent Zirker, manager for the state Auditor's Office in Kennewick. His team audits dozens of entities annually in the Tri-Cities, including the counties, cities and school districts and special districts. Most of what they do is routine review, checking accounts and verifying reports.
When something suspicious is found, the auditors pay close attention to whether the public entity has good oversight and internal controls on finances and segregates duties on managing finances, Zirker said.
Franklin official faces allegations similar to details in 1986 case
Franklin official faces allegations similar to details in 1986 case
PASCO -- The recent embezzlement accusations against Franklin County official Dennis Huston are strikingly similar to the details of a federal case in 1986 that ended with him sentenced to four years in prison.
While some information about Huston's past has come to light since the Public Works accounting and administration director was arrested Thursday, many questions remain.
And county officials, the state Attorney General's Office and Pasco police continue to investigate how Huston, 65, may have stolen more than $1 million from Franklin County over the past decade.
Franklin County official jailed in fraud case
Franklin County official jailed in fraud case
PASCO — A Franklin County employee is accused of dipping into the county's coffers, and now he is being held in jail without bail.
Dennis M. Huston, 64, is one of nine county employees put on administrative leave Thursday as part of an investigation into the theft of public funds, said Franklin County Commissioner Brad Peck.
Huston, the county's director of accounting and administration for the Public Works Department, is on unpaid leave, Peck told the Herald.
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