It All Adds Up

The Orange County Board of Supervisors made the right decision two months ago in authorizing money to increase the number of auditors of county agencies. Now, it would be a good idea to increase the number again. As this county above all others knows, it pays to be careful.

Orange County plunged into bankruptcy just over two years ago when Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron’s risky investment strategies blew up. The county-run fund managed by Citron lost $1.64 billion.

The county’s auditing staff sounded an alarm about Citron’s practices, but Auditor-Controller Steve E. Lewis was wrong in not shouting about the problem. Instead, it was buried in one of those bureaucratic reports that often get filed straight in the wastebasket.

Lewis is an elected official and has refused to resign. But the supervisors did strip him of most of his auditing duties and created a new office of internal audits. That was a smart move.

The internal audit office originally was staffed with 13 workers. That was enough to carry out the audits required by state law, but it also meant examinations of some county agencies would be conducted only once every six years. That’s not sufficient. Too many problems can crop up or grow larger in that time.

The supervisors in February approved a request for four more auditors for the internal audits office. That cuts the interval between examinations for some departments from six years to three. Adding another four would trim the interval to two years. It also would allow a more rigorous examination of the Superior and Municipal courts in Orange County, which handle large amounts of money from filing fees, fines and the like.

Examiners have not reported finding any irregularities in Orange County’s courts. But there is a lesson to be learned from the Los Angeles County community of Pomona, where a court clerk is accused of embezzling $240,000. That has prompted Los Angeles to reexamine its relatively weak controls over the handling of cash in its courthouses.

Orange County officials said it would cost less than $500,000 for the additional auditors. That may seem like small change for a government with a budget in the billions of dollars. But fiscal times are tough after the bankruptcy and the supervisors scrutinize outlays, as they should. Still, if auditors prevent money from somehow getting “lost” in one department or another, or help improve efficient operations, it will be money well spent.

One of the important lessons of Orange County’s bankruptcy is the need to pay close attention to the funds provided by taxpayers to keep government operating.