Kanawha County's auditor told county commissioners Tuesday that there is a problem with their books.
The county did not include outside component agencies in its audit, which violated Governmental Accounting Standards Board rules.
While there was confusion about the qualifications for what makes a component agency, Commission President Kent Carper said that it was at least an agency where the commission appointed the majority of the board.
That would include the Yeager Airport Board, the Parks and Recreation Commission, Metro 911 and the ambulance authority, among others.
The county has not included the component agencies in their audits since at least 2001, and in years past that has resulted in a simple disclaimer on the final audit report.
The county commission switched to a new auditor this year, Suttle & Stalnaker, and the firm said that the component agencies should be included based on Governmental Accounting Standards Board rules.
In order to comply, the county would need to identify its component agencies.
Once the component agencies have been identified, their audits would have to be included in the county's final audits.
"I'm disappointed that the other CPA firm let it slide for 15 years," Carper said.
If the county complies with the rule, it could delay future audits because the county will have to wait for the component agencies to be audited first.
The commission switched to a new auditor at the request of Commissioner Dave Hardy, who is a CPA, because he thought it was good practice to change auditors.
After hearing the audit report, the county commission discussed their legislative agenda as the session begins its final weeks.
The county opposed HB 4009, which would allow for 1 percent sales tax that could be used by the county to fix roads, if the sales tax received 60 percent of the vote in an election.
"This will not fix a single road in Kanawha County," Carper said. "It's a tax hike."
The commission also opposed a bill that would allow counties to fix roads through creating tax-increment financing districts. TIF allows governments to fund economic development projects by using the projected increase in property taxes that occurs because of the improvements to the district.
"I oppose any bill to put counties back in the road business," Dave Hardy said.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or on Twitter at @drdesrochers.