Supervisors spar with auditor over claims procedures

Some heated discussion over claims procedures highlighted a busy Monday for the Chickasaw County Board of Supervisors at this week's meeting.
The board has been looking for ways to improve efficiency in recent months, and on Monday supervisor Dan Carolan presented the board with research he had done on the procedures of other counties when it comes to approving claims.
"They do the claims on Mondays and that's it," Carolan said. "I think that's something that this board should go with."
He added that streamlining the meetings would be a much more efficient use of the supervisors' time, and it would save the county money.
"It seems pretty ridiculous for us to have to come in here for a half an hour on Tuesdays," Carolan said. "Sometimes I don't even bother to come."
Carolan suggested that the county should get all the claims done at the weekly Monday meeting, rather than the current procedure, which usually requires board members to come in on a Tuesday to finish with claims.
Claims are essentially the non-payroll bills the county has to pay, to the various departments and outside vendors, in order to keep the county government running. Claims are primarily handled by the county auditor's office, although they need the approval of the supervisors.
"What if there's a deadline on the payment?" asked supervisor Tim Zoll.
Board chairman Jacob Hackman told him that according to the county attorney's office, payments such as those can be approved without the authorization of the supervisors, as long as that authorization is done at the meeting immediately after the claim is paid.
Hackman said he had gotten an opinion from the county attorney's office regarding claims procedures.
"We control the board of supervisor's agenda, Joan controls the auditor's office," Hackman said. "If we set claims for Monday, and she doesn't have them done, we can do those on the following Monday."
Hackman and other board members discussed incidents when not having claims done on time resulted in those claims being rejected, or late fees charged to the county. He also pointed out that there have been times when the county has paid claims without board approval, which is in violation of state and county code.
"If these department heads can't get their claims in soon enough, we are going off of state law ...," Hackman said. "That's the stuff that's going on behind this board's back ... we have to fix these issues, guys."
County Auditor Joan Knoll pointed out that rushing claims through can sometimes result in inaccuracies and occasional costly clerical errors. It also can put an undue burden on her staff, she said.
"When you rush my team, you're going to have too many clerical errors," she said. "It takes two-and-a-half days to do claims. You guys don't know all we have to do, unless you're here working every single day."
 
For more of this article, see Friday's Tribune.

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