NAWILIWLI — The county Office of the County Auditor is requesting a 34 percent budget increase for next fiscal year, which starts July 1. The majority of the proposed $347,000 increase, from $1.02 million to $1.37 million, is to fund
NAWILIWLI — The county Office of the County Auditor is requesting a 34 percent budget increase for next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
The majority of the proposed $347,000 increase, from $1.02 million to $1.37 million, is to fund new staff positions and an increase in consultant services, Mayor Bernard Carvahlo Jr.’s proposed FY2012 budget indicates.
Although required of all county departments this year, the auditor’s office did not submit a comprehensive supplemental departmental report to Kaua‘i County Council members during a departmental budget review hearing Tuesday in Nawiliwili Council Chambers.
Instead, Staff Internal Auditor Ron Rawls narrated an “Office of the County Auditor 2011-2012 Budget” slide presentation that outlined in brief the department’s mission, standards, goals and objectives.
A single slide titled “Proposed Budget” stated, “We made an effort to keep our overall budget even or less than the adjusted budget for FY2010-2011” and outlined the following results:
— Decrease in consultant fees
— Increase in fringe benefit rates mandated by Finance
— Increase because support staff expenses are for a full year, rather than a partial year
Actual figures were not provided. The “decrease in consultant fees” the presentation referenced is a decrease compared to the FY2011 adjusted budget — not the original budget.
Spending by the auditor’s office is $536,629, or 53 percent, higher than the original budget had allocated. The additional funds spent since July 1 are attributed to new staff members added to the now five-member department and outside consulting services.
Consulting services are contracted when an audit requires special expertise, County Auditor Ernesto Pasion said. It accounts for $376,600 of the amended budget increase, from $535,000 to $911,600, or 70 percent.
Council Chair Jay Furfaro reminded Pasion and emphasized that any amendments made to the department’s budget throughout the year require council’s approval.
“Variances in the work plan cause variances in the budget,” Furfaro said, “and that requires us to hear from you. If you need additional funds, that’s when we give it to you. You can’t just add work without having the appropriate funds to do the work … Once you submit your plan, there are no variations.”
Furfaro also said he “appreciated that Pasion’s budget for payroll falls in line with what he had submitted earlier” and that the “audit department is setting the standard for growth in an operating budget.”
Only Rawls will receive a pay raise this year, a 6 percent increase, if the budget is approved.
The auditor’s office is required to produce a supplemental budget report to council by May 4 and a new work plan for the coming year by the first council session in June.
“We approve a budget for you based on some plan,” Furfaro said, and emphasized he did not want to see it arrive two days before the end of June the way it did last year.
