Humboldt County’s auditor-controller rings alarm bell

Dear Taxpayers of Humboldt County,

On Tuesday, Sept. 29, the Board of Supervisors will hear a staff recommendation that they should direct the Auditor-Controller to assist with a project to outsource the payroll function from its in-house financial software to ADP, a policy which the Auditor-Controller has previously warned against. Apparently, the County Administrative Officer, the Acting County Counsel, the Human Resources director, and the Treasurer Tax Collector will request that the Board instruct the Auditor-Controller to abandon the property duties of the A-C department and instead work for them to finish an implementation that they began, but are unable to complete themselves. They have already spent hundreds of thousands on the project with hundreds of thousands more needed every year going forward and are hoping that the Auditor-Controller can clean up their mess. And it does not appear that these administrators intend to request the allocation of resources to make this task possible while performing the State Constitutional duties of the Auditor-Controller. It is going to put the Auditor-Controller in the awkward task of having to refuse the direction of the Board or refuse the direction of the Federal and State mandates that dictate the work of the Auditor-Controller as staffing levels do not allow for the performance of both.

This agenda item is not scheduled for a time certain thus making it a challenge for members of the public to plan and coordinate their day to ensure they can participate in this discussion when the Board gets around to discussing it. It is possible that this item will be passed without public participation and this office is not satisfied that the financial information or timeline of events which the Administrative Office is presenting is accurate. Acting County Counsel has expressed the position that this office has no right or place to even comment on the policy decisions or whether they are financially appropriate. This office is also greatly concerned about the systems of payment which involve cash, outside bank accounts, unsubstantiated indirect charges, ACH withdrawals, and credit cards which make tracking and regulation of the payments being made on behalf of the county impossible. The checks and balances are not in place and the County is in serious jeopardy of financial difficulty. To the degree that this office is intended to serve as a gatekeeper of the County’s funds, the task is further made difficult by its removal by the County Administrator from the agenda item routing process for items for which this office is obligated to address.

This County’s rank and file staff are under severe difficulty. Invoices from local vendors are disappearing on the desks of stressed and overworked fiscal staff across all departments. The Auditor-Controller often receives invoices months past their due dates yet is expected to accept full responsibility for their delay. Auditor-Controller staff are working overtime every day, weekends included, to help departments catch up on paying their invoices or to help taxpayers get their refunds after their property values were determined to be mis- assessed at the expense of the performance of their regulatory duties. Every last-minute emergency takes away from the regular work that needs to be completed and there are multiple last-minute emergencies every single day. This office does not have an executive secretary or public information officers or teams of administrative staff like other departments have. The Auditor-Controller must spend extensive time with the A-C team reviewing invoices with them, troubleshooting system issues with them, reading up on government codes with them, and processing transactions with them. Time is especially precious under the pandemic.

The Auditor-Controller serves 17 different functions across the entire County with a staff of 11 people. The department has been inadequately funded and inadequately staffed for decades due to the County Administrative Officer’s myopia and control over the budget process. Departments are divided into silos where they must compete for scraps of made-up money in the budget. If they can “get along” with the Administrative Office, then they can get their charges waived or additional funding for more staff. If they don’t “get along,” then they can expect to be overcharged and disregarded.

This office has ongoing difficulties with what it believes to be an entrenched “culture” within the County Government which is not acting in the best interests of the public, but instead looking for shortcuts to make its own tasks easier, and now they are looking to have the Board thrust a project onto this office that this office discouraged, a project which is clearly outside of the duties of this office, without providing the needed resources. They have already hired 4 outside consultants and 1 project manager to work the project, but apparently, they need this office to complete for a second time a mapping document to translate the general ledger information to a language that ADP understands and then further assist with whatever tasks arise in order to complete the project and then maintain it for years to come.

I am sorry if the County Administrator and other appointed heads do not see me as a “team player” in this matter. I was elected to serve a particular function and I intend to see that through until voters decide that I am not acting in their best interest. As it is difficult to include all of the complexities in a press statement, I will make myself available for an interview should any member of the media take interest in this matter. Sincerely and respectfully, Your Auditor-Controller, Karen Paz Domínguez