County's auditor is there for you

To the taxpayers of Kootenai County:

As a taxpayer, you should know what the auditor’s office does for you. It is the essence of transparency, the buzzword everyone is using these days.

The auditor is responsible for recording and reporting the financial transactions of the county. We coordinate and consolidate the annual budget. We process payroll and pay the county’s bills. We work with the treasurer and the assessor in the tax cycle. Our operation and records are audited by an independent audit firm every year.

To fulfill our mission, we work with all the departments in the county on financial matters. We provide analysis to managers and elected officials.

This is a huge responsibility, which we take very seriously.

The cornerstone of sound financial reporting is a system with strong user security. The county performed an internal audit of financial system access in 2016. Our current policies support industry best practices, assuring financial data is safe and employees have enough access to perform their job functions.

The auditor’s staff is a well-trained group of professionals with years of experience in both government finance and the private sector. We cross-train our employees to add depth to our knowledge base and provide coverage during time off to ensure service delivery is consistent and of high quality. We attend training regularly to keep our skills current.

I am extremely proud to be a part of the Kootenai County auditor’s team.

I personally invite you to take a moment to visit our website. The county publishes an array of rich content, including an annual audited financial report, a budget book document and quarterly financial updates with commentary and analysis. Detailed weekly payables are available online for anyone to review. We answer hundreds of public records requests each year.

Transparency is at the core of everything we do. It is an honor to serve you.

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Dena Darrow, CPA, is Kootenai County’s finance director.