Pike County Animal Control projected to be severely over budget
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By DAVID CAMPHOUSE
It came to light at the Monday, Oct. 24, Pike County Board meeting that the Pike County Animal Control Department is projected to run well over budget.
In fact, County Board President Jim Sheppard reported that the department is on pace to run nearly three times over budget.
“They’re looking like they’ll spend more like $325,000 compared to $120,000,” Sheppard said.
Sheppard indicated that just over $200,000 of the budget overage was attributed to payroll expenses.
Sheppard stated that the budget overage needed to be accounted for, and the County Board would be looking into the particulars of why the payroll budget was so far off from what was projected.
“We’re going to have meetings to look at it,” Sheppard said. “We’ve got to rein it in.”
The Agriculture Committee of the County Board reported that no shifts longer than eight hours would be allowed for Animal Control Department employees.
Sheppard added that, while the County Board would be looking into the budget overage, he felt the workload of the department had increased since former Animal Control Warden Debbie Lambeth left and current Animal Control Warden McKenzie Ballinger took over.
“When Debbie was here, we had a maximum of 40 dogs and 10 cats,” Sheppard said. “Right now we have 118 dogs and 70 cats.”
In other business, the board approved granting an extension of six months for the Office of the Circuit Clerk to conduct its audit. The Circuit Clerk is awaiting the County to conduct its audit, because the Circuit Clerk’s audit relies on information provided by the county audit.
Because the 2021 audit was not conducted on time, Pike County has been placed on the state’s “Do Not Pay” list, meaning the county cannot receive payments from certain government agencies/departments.
According to County Board President Jim Sheppard, the Wipfli agency has reneged on both the 2022 and 2021 audits.
“Two weeks ago they backed out of the 2021 audit,” Sheppard said last week. “Last Wednesday, they backed out of the 2021 audit.”
Sheppard said that the county’s unpreparedness to conduct an audit allowed the firm to back out of its contract.
“There’s a clause that says if we’re not ready with the information that they need when they’re ready, then they can back out,” Sheppard said.
Sheppard indicated that he was in the process of contacting another firm to conduct the county’s audit.
“You don’t need to bid out auditing services, so I’ve reached out to our former auditor, Zumbahlen, Eyth, Surratt, Foote & Flynn,” Sheppard said last week. “I’ve left two messages and haven’t heard back.”
Zumbahlen, Eyth, Surratt, Foote & Flynn, Ltd. is located in Jacksonville.
Sheppard said again at Monday night’s meeting that he was pursuing other auditors.
“I’ve got another couple calls out there,” Sheppard said.
In addition, the County failed to audit taxes for the Pleasant Hill Park District.
“Somehow it didn’t get put on this year’s tax bill,” Sheppard said.
As a result, the County will use $33,486 in ARPA funds – in the form of a no-interest loan – to make the park district whole.
The county made a number of tax sales in various townships, which yielded the county a total of $23,079.63.
