Laurel County Clerk’s office gets clean audit

Local News

June 15, 2009

By Tara Kaprowy The Sentinel-Echo Mon Jun 15, 2009, 11:56 AM EDT

In the wake of the county receiving word of a very problematic Laurel County Fiscal Court audit, the 2008 audit for the Laurel County Clerk’s financial statement has been released.

In every possible way, Clerk Dean Johnson got gold stars for the handling of the revenues, expenditures and excess fees of his office.

The press release shows state Auditor Crit Luallen’s office noted no instances of noncompliance.

“The auditor also noted no matters involving internal control over financial reporting and its operation that were considered to be material weaknesses,” the release states.

Johnson’s office got a similar review in his 2006 and 2007 audits.

Johnson did not appear to be surprised by the results.

“I’ve never had an audit that was out of compliance in any way,” he said.

The audit noted revenues in the office decreased by $2,185,350 from the year before and expenditures decreased by $2,028,084.

Conversely, the 2007 audit shows revenues increased by $811,211 from the prior year and expenditures increased by $505,936.

Johnson blamed the economy for the drop in revenues, which are raised in part by taxing the purchase of major items like vehicles and homes.

“I think anyone would understand, the car sales have done a nose dive because of the auto industry,” Johnson said. “That’s one of the things. We’ve had, like, four dealership that have gone out of business.”

Johnson said deed transfer tax was also less than last year, “but not a lot.”

Staff writer Tara Kaprowy can be reached by e-mail at tkaprowy@sentinel-echo.com.

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