Audit report finds policy issues with Curry County Treasurer's Office

CLOVIS — Following Curry County's 2018 financial audit, an Agreed Upon Procedures report found many highlighted policy issues at the Curry County Treasurer's Office have yet to be addressed, which could have big consequences for the county if left as is.

County commissioners met with members of the county treasurer's office on Friday in a special meeting to present the AUP report and express the importance of implementing necessary policy changes to fix issues highlighted in the county's 2018 audit as soon as possible.

Commission Chairman Chet Spear said in a direct statement to Treasurer Debbie Spriggs that failure to correct these issues could affect the county's credit rating and loan eligibility and have adverse consequences on future infrastructure projects as a result.

Alan D. Bowser Jr. of Carr, Riggs & Ingrim, LLC presented its findings from the AUP report following an investigation of the treasurer's office operating procedures and policies.

The investigation, which delves deeper than the average audit according to Bowser, turned up several deficiencies in the treasurer's operating policies and procedures, many of which remain after being highlighted in the county's 2018 audit and taken as a group could constitute a material weakness.

The CRI report gave examples of several of these issues, such as improper segregation of duties, improper documentation, inconsistent application of procedures and written policy not being updated to include practiced procedures.

After hearing the details of the report, commissioners approved an action to submit the report to the treasurer's office, to which they also pledged to lend whatever aid they could to get these issues resolved.

Spear stressed that the nature of this report and the pressure the commission is now putting on the treasurer to have these policy issues resolved is not of a personal nature, but for the good of the county and its financial well being.

“Debbie, we are here to help you, but we are not here to do your job,” Spear said. “That is on your shoulders ... We are here to protect tax dollars and that is our major concern. I can assure you that's on our shoulders and that is a responsibility we take very seriously.”

Spear also made a point to tell Spriggs that by not appointing a chief deputy for over 12 months, it has been in direct violation of New Mexico state law, which requires such an appointment, specifically as a precaution in case of the untimely death of the current elected official. Appointing a chief deputy would also help alleviate some of the policy issues that the treasurer's office must resolve, he said.

Spriggs said the treasurer's office may require some outside assistance in order to resolve outlined issues, to which county commissioners agreed to provide support. One suggestion considered would to be hire CRI or a similar agency to come in and assist in rewriting and implementing the necessary policy and procedure changes.