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Home My WebLink About2017 Accountability FINAL Accountability Audit Report City of Port Townsend Jefferson County For the period January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2017 Published August 6, 2018 Report No. 1021828 Office of the Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy August 6, 2018 Mayor and City Council City of Port Townsend Port Townsend, Washington Report on Accountability Thank you for the opportunity to work with you to promote accountability, integrity and openness governments with assurance and accountability as the independent auditor of public accounts. In this way, we strive to help government work better, cost less, deliver higher value and earn greater public trust. Independent audits provide essential accountability and transparency for City operations. This information is valuable to management, the governing body and public stakeholders when The attached comprises our independent audit report on the Citywith applicable requirements and safeguarding of public resources for the areas we examined. We appreciate the opportunity to work with your staff and we value your cooperation during the audit. Sincerely, Pat McCarthy State Auditor Olympia, WA Insurance Building, P.O. Box 40021 Olympia, Washington 98504-0021 (360) 902-0370 Pat.McCarthy@sao.wa.gov TABLE OF CONTENTS Audit Results .................................................................................................................................. 4 Related Reports .............................................................................................................................. 5 Information about the City ............................................................................................................. 6 About the State Auditor's Office ..................................................................................................... 7 Office Page 3 AUDIT RESULTS This report describes the overall results and conclusions for the areas we examined. In those selected areas, City operations complied with applicable state laws, regulations, and its own policies, and provided adequate controls over the safeguarding of public resources. About the audit This report contains the results of our independent accountability audit of the City of Port Townsend from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2017. Management is responsible for ensuring compliance and adequate safeguarding of public resources from fraud, loss or abuse. This includes the design, implementation and maintenance of internal controls relevant to these objectives. This audit was conducted under the authority of RCW 43.09.260, which requires the Office of the State Auditor to examine the financial affairs of all local governments. Our audit involved performing procedures to obtain evidence about the City with state laws and regulations and its own policies and procedures, and internal controls over such matters. In keeping with general auditing practices, we do not examine every transaction, activity or area. Instead, based on our risk assessment for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, the areas examined were those representing the highest risk of fraud, loss, abuse, or noncompliance. The following areas were examined during this audit period: Self-insurance unemployment Payroll overtime pay and gross wages Police Department evidence room Safeguarding of small and attractive assets such as computers Golf course contract and revenue monitoring Homeward Bound loan and property surplus Washington Page 4 RELATED REPORTS Financial Our opinion on the City and compliance with federal grant program requirements is provided in a separate report, which includes the Citystatements. That report is available on our website,http://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch. Federal grant programs We evaluated internal controls and tested compliance with the federal program requirements, as applicable, for the City major federal program, which is listed in the Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs section of the separate financial statement and single audit report. That report is available on our website, http://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch. Washington Page 5 INFORMATION ABOUT THE CITY The City of Port Townsend serves 9,485 citizens in Jefferson County. The City provides an array of services including water, sewer, storm drainage, police, parks and recreation, planning, street maintenance and construction, library and general administrative services. The City contracts for fire protection, court, jail and emergency medical services. A private company provides solid waste collection services. An elected, seven-member Council governs the City. The Council appoints a Manager to oversee the revenues were approximately $40.5 million in fiscal year 2017. Contact information related to this report Address: City of Port Townsend 250 Madison Street, Suite 1 Port Townsend, WA 98368 Contact: Nora Mitchell, Finance Director Telephone: 360-379-4403 Website: www.cityofpt.us Information current as of report publish date. Audit history You can find current and past audit reports for the City of Port Townsendat http://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch. Office Page 6 ABOUT THE STATE A The State Auditor's Office is established in the state's Constitution and is part of the executive branch of state government. The State Auditor is elected by the citizens of Washington and serves four-year terms. We work with our audit clients and citizens to achieve our vision of government that works for citizens, by helping governments work better, cost less, deliver higher value, and earn greater public trust. In fulfilling our mission to hold state and local governments accountable for the use of public resources, we also hold ourselves accountable by continually improving our audit quality and operational efficiency and developing highly engaged and committed employees. As an elected agency, the State Auditor's Office has the independence necessary to objectively perform audits and investigations. Our audits are designed to comply with professional standards as well as to satisfy the requirements of federal, state, and local laws. Our audits look at financial information and compliance with state, federal and local laws on the part of all local governments, including schools, and all state agencies, including institutions of higher education. In addition, we conduct performance audits of state agencies and local governments as well as fraud, state whistleblower and citizen hotline investigations. The results of our work are widely distributed through a variety of reports, which are available on our website and through our free, electronic subscription service. We take our role as partners in accountability seriously, and provide training and technical assistance to governments, and have an extensive quality assurance program. Public Records requests PublicRecords@sao.wa.gov Main telephone (360) 902-0370 Toll-free Citizen Hotline (866) 902-3900 Website www.sao.wa.gov Washington Page 7