Operation of the Pasco County Jail is shifting from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office to Pasco County, but before it does, a transition audit should be performed, according to Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller Nikki Alvarez-Sowles.
“You want to know, as a county board, what you’re getting with that transfer of a major function for the county,” the clerk said, during the Pasco County Commission’s April 5 meeting.
“It’s important to know what we’re getting, as a county, from the sheriff, from Day One,” she added.
“When you are going to transfer an operation from one government entity to another, it’s very important to do a transition audit,” the clerk said.
That’s important, “so, that on Sept. 30, you know what was with the sheriff, and now, we know Oct. 1, what’s going to be with the county.
“An audit like that would consist of making sure we identify all of the capital assets, all of the accounts, the reconciliation of any accounts that they have, to make sure we know what we’re getting on Day One, with the county,” Alvarez-Sowles said.
Commission Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey asked the clerk if her office could do the audit.
Alvarez-Sowles said it is something that her inspector general is capable of performing, but she’s operating at 50% staff, so can’t take it on.
“We wouldn’t be able to take on an audit this size, but I would like to recommend to the board to allow her to contract with an auditing firm, outside, to come in and help us with that transition,” Alvarez-Sowles said.
“I’d like to have that opportunity to do that (contract for the audit). That would be something county would have to pay for, the services,” she added.
“We have to jump quickly because an audit like this is very extensive. It takes a lot of time.
“Just from when it switched over from my predecessor, Paula O’Neil, to me, it took months, with my inspector general, and that’s all they really focused on, for months.”
Starkey asked how the county should proceed with pursuing the audit.
County Attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder said: “The clerk should present it (proposal for audit) at a future board meeting.”
In addition to the audit, the clerk said she also needs information about how the shift will affect her operations. She expects it to have financial impacts and she wants to know more before turning in her proposed budget, which is due May 1.
Noting that she had just learned about the jail shift during the prior week, she told commissioners she might need some additional time to prepare her budget.
She said she needs to find out more about the impacts from County Administrator Dan Biles and from Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco.
“My office is going to have probably significant operational impact, with that coming over,” she said. “It’s going to be a significant impact to my finance department, finding and understanding all of their accounts and their credit cards, and reporting for grants and capital assets. And, do they have any capital projects that are outside of the General Obligation bond? And, there’s so much more, just off the top of my head.”
It also will have an impact on IT.
It also will have an impact on the courts, both criminal and civil, she said.
“I want to make sure that we identify what role is the sheriff keeping, what role is going to be coming to the county, as it relates to that,” she added.
“There’s also some local administrative orders that we need to look at, as it impacts the role. I don’t know if it would still be with the sheriff, or if it goes to the corrections, for some of the things there,” she said.
She told the county board that she would like to attend the county’s budget workshop that is set for May 24, “so we have some good conversations around this.”
Published April 13, 2022
