King William County Courthouse, 1800 Horse Landing Rd. (Em Holter)
KING WILLIAM — A new report from an auditor raises questions over the financial accountability of King William County’s treasurer’s office.
County Administrator Percy Ashcraft confirmed Treasurer Mary Sue Bancroft resigned, effective Sept. 23. Deputy Treasurer Abbi Carlton was appointed interim treasurer by a Circuit Court judge until a special election is held on March 7.
Issues in internal control over financial reporting at King William County were reported in the auditor’s initial findings. Ashcraft has pledged to address the issues uncovered by CPAs Robinson, Farmer Cox Associates.
King William County Administrator Percy Ashcraft (Prince George County)
“We will work immediately to correct them and our goal is to have an audit for FY ‘22 with no findings,” he wrote in an email.
More than two years ago, a report from the same firm found nearly $2 million of uncollected real estate taxes, numerous bank accounts at multiple banks and treasury employees handling taxpayer dollars without supervision. Former treasurer Harry Whitt retired in 2020.
The draft audit for fiscal year 2021 highlights material weaknesses but no significant deficiencies in internal controls over financial reporting.
The auditor said internal controls were “not in place over financial reporting” and all year-end adjusting entries were not identified before the audit.
“Errors which required adjustments to current financial statements indicated a material weakness in financial reporting. Material adjustments were identified related to beginning fund balance, accounts receivable, accounts payable/accrued expenses, taxes receivable, and prepaid taxes,” the draft report states.
The auditor said the county and school boards should put procedures in place to improve internal controls over reporting. It also identified a lack of safeguards in the treasurer’s office due to inadequate staffing.
The auditor said the county did not complete bank reconciliations in a timely manner during the year. “Many months were not reconciled at all.” The auditor referenced the turnover of staff in the treasurer’s office.
“The big problem is the turnover in the office as well as having to deal with a whole new accounting system. It’s the perfect storm for causing you to get behind. Once you get behind in a bank reconciliation process, it gets really hard to dig yourself out of that hole,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins also highlighted a state compliance issue related to the school board. He said when the school board advertised the public hearing for its budget, it failed to place an announcement in a public newspaper.
“The Code of Virginia still says you are supposed to do that, put it in an advertisement. They advertised on the website, not the newspaper, so we had to report the finding on that,” he said.
Bancroft was elected treasurer in a special election in February 2021 after Whitt resigned. She told the County Courier she will be running for the 5th District Board of Supervisors position.
According to the 2020 report, about 400 properties, dating back 30 years, had not paid their taxes, totaling just under $2 million in uncollected amounts from those properties. Former Commissioner of Revenue Sally Pearson resigned in November 2020. A limited full audit report conducted by Robinson, Farmer, Cox and Associates showed her office had not adequately applied taxes or maintained books properly.
The county’s delayed reassessment of real estate and commercial properties is on course to be finalized by the end of this month.
David Macaulay, davidmacaulayva@gmail.com
Copyright © 2022, Daily Press
Copyright © 2022, Daily Press