The purpose of the Auditors office is to provide accurate and timely financial information about the County of Sierra to the Board of Supervisors, county departments, state and federal agencies and the public. This information is used to accurately evaluate the County's past performance and make informed decisions about the County's present and future direction. Further, the Auditor is charged with accounting for monies owed the County and paying bills incurred by the County.

"The County Auditor shall exercise a general supervision over, the accounting forms and the method of keeping the accounts of all offices, departments and institutions under the control of the Board of Supervisors and of all districts whose funds are kept in the County treasury." (California Government Code § 26881). Sierra County adopted Gov't. Code § 26945 in May of 1996 which established minimum requirements for holding the office of the Auditor.

Most of the work of the Auditor's office is as support to other county departments, funds and special districts. Support includes keeping track of revenues and expenditures, auditing purchases to see that they comply with the governing body's (County Board of Supervisors, special districts boards and commissions) rules and approved budgets, and generally accepted accounting standards.

The part of the Auditor's functions that directly impacts the public has to do with calculating property taxes. The Assessor assesses value to most real property in the County and then delivers the property tax rolls to the Auditor. The State Board of Equalization utility roll is added. The Auditor calculates the 1% tax rate plus any special tax rates and special assessments for each property and charges the Tax Collector with collecting them. Once the Tax Collector collects the taxes, the Auditor disburses them to local governments to pay for schools, law enforcement, water, cemeteries, parks, hospital, cities, fire services, public utilities, county administration, etc.

The Auditor prepares the county budget at the direction of the County Board of Supervisors.

The Auditor's Office is also charged with certifying and completing many reports to state and federal agencies.

The Auditor prepares the county's comprehensive financial statements for the out-side auditors each year.

Risk Manager Functions

The Auditor is also head of the Risk Management (insurance) department. The insurance department has one half time employee. This department handles workmen's compensation insurance, property insurance, liability insurance, and employee safety. The Auditor is the County's representative on two state-wide JPA insurance funds.

Personnel Functions

The following is a list of items currently handled by the Auditing Department that would normally be handled by a Personnel or Human Resources Department:

Print View Updated on 2010-08-31 09:41:40 by Auditor