Special audit results in the near future for Shoshone County

WALLACE –– The Shoshone Board of County Commissioners is still awaiting the results of a forensic audit that they hope will show them where the county overspent in recent years.

But the wait could soon be over. 

On Tuesday, Commissioner Jeff Zimmerman told the News-Press that the results of the forensic audit could be finalized by the end of June, just as long as the county’s annual budget is completed on schedule. 

In November, after several rounds of cuts and utilizing emergency funds to pass its annual budget, the board agreed to pay business firm Eide Bailly LLP. $11,500 to complete a forensic audit that would show where the county overspent roughly $3 million over the previous years.

Consequently, as Eide Bailly navigated their work it was determined that they would need to see the completed annual audit for 2023 to finish their contracted work. 

The annual audit, being handled by Hayden Ross Pllc. out of Moscow, is expected to be completed by the end of this month. 

In the meantime, the county has been searching for ways to save money while increasing revenue. This included a recent board-led workshop discussing the possibility of a wage freeze for county employees. However, the board has said that nothing will be decided until they have the results of both audits.

“I want to be cautious about what we say,” Zimmerman said. “I don’t want to get the employees’ hopes up.” 

Commissioner Dave Dose still maintains that the goal of the audit isn’t to direct blame but to make sure that any missteps that may have occurred don’t continue happening.

“This is a fact-finding mission. We have to figure out how the error occurred so we can start turning it around,” Dose said. “It’s like a big ship – it’s gonna take a little while to turn.”