County passes audit, receives recommendations

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For the third year in a row, Archuleta County has received an unqualified opinion on its audit, meaning a clean audit.

A draft of the 2013 audit was presented to the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners at a special meeting on Sept. 29, with the audit finalized on Sept. 30.

This is the second year Anton Collins Mitchell LLP completed the audit. Randy Watkins, partner, and Tyra Litzau, senior manager, presented the audit.

According to the Audit Wrap-Up, no issues of “going concern” were noted during the audit.

On Wednesday, Archuleta County Finance Director Larry Walton noted that the financial results of the county’s audit were good, that the county did not overspend any funds, that revenues exceeded budgeted amounts in cases, that there are surpluses in core government funds, and that the county has been able to retain and will continue to build reserves in those funds.

“I’m really proud of the staff we have,” Walton said, adding that, despite being short-staffed and having staff working from home on maternity leave, the audit information was given to the auditors on time.

But beyond a basic look at the county’s financials to determine that the county is or is not in line with applicable laws, the audit also identifies areas of concern for the county to work on.

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