McLean County voters may be able to decide on a referendum to eliminate the elected County Auditor this November. But, the details are more complicated than they seem.
The McLean County Executive Committee voted unanimously on Monday, June 10, 2024, to place a referendum on the November ballot to eliminate the position of the County Auditor. The measure now moves to the full County Board this Thursday, June 13th, 2024, where it will be discussed and potentially voted on.
The current County Auditor, Michelle Anderson, was not present at the meeting.
If passed, the referendum will read:
“Shall McLean County eliminate the elected office of the County Auditor when McLean County already contracts an external Auditor as required by state law? Process improvements and the elimination of redundant functions would be a cost savings to the County.”
State law requires all public bodies hire an external auditor. District Two County Board member William Friedrich, who chairs the Finance Committee, says his committee does everything it can to make sure everything is above board with the county’s finances. Friedrich praised the external auditor hired by the County, Clifton Larson Allen, claiming the firm does a very thorough job checking the County’s finances. The County spends roughly $125,000 for the firms services.
However, the duties of the external auditor pales in comparison to the duties of the County’s own internal auditor. External auditors typically do about one audit a year, do a few interviews with department heads, and take a special look at federal grants. The external auditor makes sure the budget balances. The external auditor does not have a fiduciary responsibility to actually catch waste, fraud, & abuse.
In comparison, the County Auditor is able to do daily audits of every department in a continuous day-to-day process. The County Auditor does have a fiduciary responsibility to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.The County Auditor guarantees no money is being siphoned off by checking to see if cash registers are over or under what they are supposed to be. They also check petty cash in each department and make sure the books match every night.
The County Auditor is also responsible for verifying procurement cards given to department heads or officials traveling to conferences. The auditor checks that officials are using these cards only for approved County purposes and are not being used to purchase alcohol, drugs, gambling, ladies (or men) of the evening, or horses among other perfidious spending.
Finally, the County Auditor is responsible for recommending new services or policies that are fair and equitable to mitigate risks caused by unique or unusual situations which might emerge in each department.
What the County Administration and County Board call redundancies are actually essential functions by an independent body not beholden to any department or other elected official but only to the tax-payer.
In preparation for the County Board meeting Thursday, the County Administrator released a statement explaining their reasoning for the elimination of the internal auditor. They listed a number of duties auditors are required to perform by statute, and whether Auditor Anderson is performing these duties as required.
The administrator’s complaints include: inefficiencies and late fees when the County Auditor believes that a claim should not be paid, lack of quarterly reports which administration claims Auditor Anderson does not do on a consistent basis, a lack of day-to-day audits, inconsistent auditing of County property, and irregular auditing of vendors.
Furthermore, Auditor Anderson does not appear to be a Certified Public Accountant. State law does not require any qualifications for the elected auditor position (though, if the position was appointed by the County Board, the auditor would be required to have relevant certifications such as a Certified Internal Auditor [CIA], Certified Public Accountant [CPA], or Chartered Accountant [CA]).
Yet, none of the complaints made by the Administration seem to be directed at the office itself but are passive-aggressively aimed at Anderson’s performance specifically. Anderson has been the County Auditor since 2009. She has clashed with the Board and other County Elected officials several times in the past and faced a Republican primary challenge in 2020. Her primary opponent, Trisha Mallot, was supported by other Republican County Elected officials like County Clerk Kathy Michael, then-State’s Attorney Don Knapp, and the perpetually perfidious former-Sheriff Jon Sandage. Anderson defeated Mallot winning 55% of the vote.1
It sounds like Anderson is the problem, until it is pointed out the County Board defunded the Auditor’s office back in 2018 by removing three employees from her office and sending them to the County Treasurer’s department. This is a classic neo-liberal slight-of-hand: defund an office while giving them the same amount of responsibilities, then, complain when that office is unable to accomplish its goals with less resources.
The proposed referendum is to eliminate the County Auditor position entirely, not to change it from elected to appointed. County Administrator Cassy Taylor admitted to Agitation Rising they don’t have a specific plan for voters to consider as a replacement to the elected auditor. Taylor expressed skepticism of whether such a consideration could be placed on the ballot. However, in 2018, Peoria County attempted to eliminate the elected auditor position for an appointed auditor position via a ballot referendum. The voters chose to keep the elected auditor at that time. The Peoria County Auditor has since been eliminated entirely via a referendum in 2022.
Agitation Rising asked County Board Chair and District 1 board member Catherine Metsker if the reason for this ballot initiative was based on inefficiencies with the office itself or problems with the current auditor? Metsker stated, “It has nothing to with one individual; it has everything to do with making sure we have the ability to do internal audits. It has nothing to do with a particular individual. It is not related to Michelle Anderson; it’s related to the position.”
Yet, back in 2019, then head of the Finance Committee Metsker pushed for the board to decrease Anderson’s salary by $25,000.2 The County Board rejected the pay cut.
This is not the first attempt to eliminate the County Auditor position. A referendum was placed on the 2014 ballot, but it failed 52%-42%.
The County Board meeting is this Thursday, June 13th, 2024, at 5:30PM.
- Stock, Erick, and Ryan Denham. “County Auditor Anderson Fights off Primary Challenger Malott.” WGLT, 18 Mar. 2020.
- Though Metsker told WGLT, “(It’s) solely based on the job responsibilities for circuit clerk, the auditor and the coroner, not based on individuals or performance of those jobs.”
