Auditor Recommendations for TRAC

Date:  4-16-2014 Franklin County Commissioner Board Meeting
RE:  Franklin County Auditor Matt Beaton recommendations to the board regarding TRAC

FRANKLIN COUNTY AUDITOR

Recommendations for the TRAC Center

The TRAC Center is a voter approved facility that provides for a variety of community activities. It was built by Franklin County and the City of Pasco in 1995. The relationship is governed by an Interlocal Cooperation Agreement (Resolution No. 94-126). The estimated revenues for 2014 are approximately 2.6 million dollars and has it always run at a loss. Our recommendations are in the area of accounting, compliance and reporting. Our recommendations further address the Franklin RV Park budgetary control.

In 2012 TRAC management self reported several conditions that needed to be addressed. As a follow up to those reported conditions when the 2012 Accountability Audit was being planned, the Franklin County Auditor’s office requested that the SAO conduct surprise cash counts across the county including our office, review petty cash handling and review the controls and policies of the TRAC ATM’s. The SAO report disclosed several areas that Franklin County can improve.

When the draft stage of the report became available to staff, January 2014, we were asked to help write some TRAC policies to address the pending findings. However after reviewing the submitted policies we believed the best approach was to develop more in depth recommendations:

1. Outsource the operation of the ATM’s a. It was clear that ATM operation involved too much complexity and risk to be done in- house.

2. Develop an RFP for an independent review of TRAC to present to the Commissioners a. TRAC’s financials and procedures could benefit from a review. We have developed a draft RFP for the boards review and input. TRAC management would benefit from confirmation of what it is doing well as well as recommendations for improvement.

3. Review the budgetary control of the Franklin County RV Park a. The RV Park is solely owned and operated by the County. TRAC is a City/County operation. The income from the RV Park is currently allocated to cover Franklin County’s responsibility for TRAC’s losses that occur every year. In a control environment budget authority is the primary control in assuring accountability. If TRAC desires to continue to receive revenue from the RV budget they should not have budgetary authority over RV as it creates a conflict of interest. In addition there should be a contract or memorandum of understanding (MOU) detailing the services and payment schedule of any services between the two budgets. 　

We additionally recommend full compliance with the Section 9.1 of the Interlocal related to Oversight. While the section may seem cumbersome to efficient operation it fullfils a vital role of oversight review on behalf of the interested parties. We believe in addition to the recommendations above that a robust Advisory Board that is valued by management as a necessary function in its operation will result in better transparency and accountability. Additionally the reports and presentations that are created for the Advisory Board should be made available for public review. While TRAC has a broad community appeal and there are arguments for the economic activity it creates, it still loses money every year, so the public should have easy access to the reports on its operation.