Most private businesses, and certainly most households, scrutinize their spending these days, and it was startling to learn that the Jefferson County government has been spending millions with little or no oversight or controls.
A Denver Post investigation of records going back to 2001 found millions of dollars in transactions that have slipped through county departments without competitive bidding, close supervision or binding contracts. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in transactions were made without department directors examining the paperwork, and more than $21 million has been charged to county credit cards – a process that in Jeffco involves less scrutiny than the traditional route of purchase orders.
The purchases may not have been illegal, but they erode a vital public trust between taxpayers and elected leaders. Jeffco residents, like all taxpayers, expect the government to be good stewards of their money. But up until this year, the county operated under an indefensibly lax system of accounting controls that may have resulted in taxpayer dollars being wasted or misused.
With two new commissioners on board this year, however, the county has launched an inquiry into its spending practices and has begun changing personnel and procedures.
The most unsettling stories emanate from the county’s IT department, where one mid-level manager charged $3.7 million on county credit cards, much of it for a strange program of building computers by hand, rather than utilizing the bulk-purchasing programs that have saved money for other government agencies.
The manager also spent about $1 million buying parts from a friend working for an Illinois-based company, sealing the deals with an e-mail. He has no documentation showing he sought two competitive bids, as county policy requires.
“It’s a mess,” said County Commissioner Jim Congrove.
The county seems to be making the right changes, and should be applauded for tackling the problem on its own, without being prompted by a public outcry or news stories.
One of the first moves was to let finance director Charles Montoya go. He “didn’t want aggressive accounting,” the county’s director of accounting says.
The commissioners also established an office of the internal auditor – a position independent from the finance department. They hired Susan Johnson, a CPA who earlier was forced out of a job by Montoya for raising red flags. The commissioners then hired an outside auditor to search for fraud – a key move to help re-establish their credibility with citizens.
Jefferson County is one of Colorado’s most populous counties, with a $500 million budget. Taxpayers deserve public officials who not only are good stewards of the public’s money, but also can show the receipts for what they’ve purchased.
Or, at the very least, the county should be able to find all of the parts that it’s purchased. The IT department can’t even do that.
