Sheriff’s Office addresses audit report

January 17, 2019 | 3:36 am

Updated January 16, 2019 | 9:49 pm

The Daviess County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) budget has changed slightly for the 2019 fiscal year, but not a great deal, according to Chief Deputy Sheriff Major Barry Smith. Any changes that were made stemmed from needs revolving around pensions and health insurance.

According to Smith, the biggest increase for the department focused on insurance. The Sheriff’s Office asked Daviess County Fiscal Court for an additional $79,000 for insurance purposes.

“We had to ask for an increase of $79,000 because the workers’ comp. insurance premium increased,” Smith said. “That is really the only thing that’s different.”

Smith said that last year, the Sheriff’s Office didn’t use their contingency fund of $180,000, which was set aside for them by the Fiscal Court. This year, however, the Sheriff’s Office chose to ask for an additional amount to cover pension costs, rather than have the money set aside in a contingency fund.

“We requested that amount in concrete form,” Smith said of the $146,000 that will be used to cover pension costs. “We’re not going to carry it [the $180,000] over.”

Smith added that 87 percent of the DCSO budget goes directly toward payroll and benefits, $2.4 million of their budget pays for operations and contingency funds, while $250,000 will be used for health insurance costs.

State auditor Mike Harmon released the DCSO audit publicly, which covered the 2017 financial statement of Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain.

According to the audit report, there were a couple of minor errors that were reflected in the report. One of those errors said invoices had not been cancelled properly and not all invoices had proper authorization prior to payment. Another error found stated that not all itemized invoices were maintained for all credit card disbursements.

Smith said the errors reflected in the audit report were nothing major, and that the auditor found no errors in payment.

“Receipts weren’t signed the way they wanted them signed. They found no dual payments,” Smith said. “We made all the changes they recommended as needed.”

January 17, 2019 | 3:36 am

Share this Article

Other articles you may like