Loudon County just got back the results of our 2014-2015 audit and it was actually very good. There were only three findings and none were financially significant. One finding from the sheriff's office, one in county government and one for the board of education.

The finding in the sheriff's dept. was the same as nearly every year.  "DUTIES WERE NOT SEGREGATED ADEQUATELY" All this means is one person was doing multiple jobs and according to the sheriff he doesn't have the manpower to split the jobs up.

On the county side the finding was "EXPENDITURES EXCEEDED APPROPRIATIONS" This finding was due to the fact that we gave the Loudon County Visitors Bureau more money than was written in the budget and this is because the Bureau gets a percentage of the Hotel/Motel tax. The final number is not know till the very end of the fiscal year so the Visitors Bureau budget can be adjusted accordingly.

But the finding that really takes the cake was on the school board end. "PAID LUNCH PRICES DID NOT MEET FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE SCHOOL NUTRITION PROGRAM" The short answer for what this means is, the feds say the BOE must charge a certain price to the students who actually pay for their food based on how much the feds pay for the students who don't pay for their food. In other words, those parents who pay for their child's food need to pay more. Same as everywhere else. Middle class has to carry the load for everybody.

I applaud the school board for nor raising their lunch prices on the payers just to satisfy the federal government.

So you can see, with the millions of transactions that take place in county government every year, three very insignificant findings is not too bad.