Humane Shelter Audit “clean” but Includes Multiple Policy, Procedure Recommendations

In compliance with requests from both the Stephens County Board of Commissioners and the Toccoa City Commission, a 2-year audit was recently conducted on operations at the Toccoa-Stephens County Humane Shelter, Inc.

The Shelter, which is a private non-profit organization, but receives more than 60 percent of its funding from local governments, has not had an audit in recent history.

During the presentation of the audit at a meeting of the Shelter’s Board on April 16, Joely Mixon with Mixon Mixon Brown Tench reported that the audit of the 2022 and 2023 financial records for the shelter returned a clean audit in that, “the financial statements …present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Toccoa-Stephens County Humane Shelter.”

 

While the audit found no concerning discrepancies in the reporting of the financial standing of the organization, several recommendations were made in relation to multiple internal processes and procedures in within the organization, including the sharing of banking log-ins and passwords, unregulated access to daily cash receipts, bylaws in urgent need of updating, and several recommendations regarding cash receipts and disbursements, payroll processes, and expense reimbursement policies. 

WNEG News sat down with Stephens County Board of Commissioners Chair Tara Simmons to discuss the audit and what actions are being taken to address the concerns expressed by the auditors. Simmons serves on the Shelter Board as one of two representatives on the board from the Stephens County Board of Commissioners. Following are comments on the Audit and the operation of the shelter.