GATE CITY — The Scott County Board of Supervisors has received the county’s 2023-24 fiscal audit and finalized its submission for VDOT unpaved road upgrades.
Scott Wickham of accounting firm Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates presented the final audit document during Wednesday’s regular board meeting.
In what he called a “pretty common finding†among “a pretty good report,†for small localities, Wickham said the company’s auditing team found some instances of unreported receivables or payables along with incorrect keying entries.
Errors were reconciled during the audit process, Wickham added.
Several conflict-of-interest forms for county and school division officials were not completed, according to the audit report letter detailed by Wickham.
The audit also recommended improved posting and entry of grant reimbursements by the school system and its nutrition program
The report letter recommended that county government and the school board work to develop and/or update policies and procedures for procurement, small purchasing and — in the county’s case — fund balance reserves.
The audit also recommended that the Sheriff’s Office comply with the state Sheriff’s Accounting Manual for funds processing and reconciliation of the Calendar Sales Account.
The audit report also recommended that the county Department of Social Services improved expense reconciliation procedures through the state’s Locality Automated System for Expenditure Reimbursement.
Wickham said thew supervisors should also review its unassigned general fund balance to match a general recommendation of 16.67% of the general fund balance, or approximately two months’ worth of general fund expenses.
Currently, the county has maintained approximately $11 million in unassigned fund balance or, what District 4 Supervisor Michael Brickey called a “rainy day fund†approximately $3 million above the recommended percentage.
VDOT road priority
The board narrowed down its April wish list of projects to be considered for inclusion on the Virginia Department of Transportation’s 2025-26 six-year plan for upgrade of unpaved roads.
VDOT Wise-Lee-Scott-Dickenson Resident Engineer Allan Sumpter told the board Wednesday that approximately $427,000 would be available for Scott County unpaved road upgrades in the next fiscal year.
Sumpter said the board should consider which of six road sections that members recommended during their April meeting. He said a review of those roads showed that Timbertree Branch Road — recommended by District 2 Supervisor Michele Glover — and Dean Hollow Road — District 3 Supervisor Eddie Skeen’s choice — had estimated costs in the $400,000-$425,000 range.
Snowflake Road — Supervisor Brickey’s recommendation — was estimated at a $500,000 project cost.
Two other recommendations — Dingus Hollow Road and Ford Branch Road — had estimated costs of $600,000 each. The sixth — Hale Springs Road — had a traffic count of 20 vehicles a day and was ineligible for VDOT consideration because of that low count, Sumpter added.
Sumpter said the board could decide to apply its entire $427,000 to one project or assign the funds to another and hope for additional funds in the following fiscal year to cover the entire cost. He added that factors such as inflation or rising contractor costs could affect available funding in either case.
After a vote of support for the Timbertree, Dean Hollow and Dingus Hollow projects, the board chose the Dean Hollow Road for VDOT submission.
VDOT will review the board’s selection — and other localities’ submissions — for a decision in June on projects for the state six-year plan, Sumpter said.
EMS and mutual aid
The board endorsed, on a 6-0 vote, an exemption request for EMS ambulance crew makeup during advance life support transports. That request, to the state Office of Emergency Medical Services, required the Board of Supervisors’ approval.
A mutual law enforcement aid agreement between Scott County and the city of Bristol, Virginia, also got a 6-0 approval vote by the board.
