Audit of the Salt Lake County Clerk's Office Interlocal Election Agreements

Report Highlights

Use of not-to-exceed clause resulted in municipalities being billed for less than the actual election costs.

Salt Lake County Countywide Policy 1060: Financial Goals and Policies, Part 4. Revenue Policies, Section 4.5 states, “The County shall establish all inter-local contracts for services at a level which reflects the full cost of providing the services. Full cost means all actual direct costs, plus overhead costs.” The invoiced election amounts billed to the municipalities were insufficient to cover the actual accrued costs to the County Clerk’s Office in 2021 due in part to the use of not-to-exceed clause in the interlocal agreement.

The Clerk’s Office lacked election calculation procedures for either their cost accrual or allocation to municipalities.

Government Accountability Office (GAO) September 2014 Publication, “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal GovernmentStandards Government” Principle 10.03: Design of Appropriate Types of Control Activities, Section: Appropriate documentation of transactions and internal control, states, “Appropriate documentation of transactions and internal control Management clearly documents internal control and all transactions and other significant events in a manner that allows the documentation to be readily available for examination. The documentation may appear in management directives, administrative policies, or operating manuals, in either paper or electronic form. Documentation and records are properly managed and maintained.” The Clerk’s Office lacked written procedures for calculating accrued election costs as well as allocating those costs to the participating municipalities and special districts.

There were inconsistent billing & cost allocations for the municipalities based on election type and voting method.

Salt Lake County Countywide Policy 1060: Financial Goals and Policies, Part 8.0 Internal Control Policy, Section 8.1 states “The County shall implement an internal control structure to ensure, on a reasonable basis, all valid financial transactions of the County are identified and recorded accurately and timely.” Based on the County Clerk Office’s available calculation data, the allocated costs to municipalities contained inaccuracies based on election type, voting method, contest number, and cost percentages.