Commissioners, auditor discuss GAAP conversion, sales tax
Commissioners Shane Wilkin, Tom Horst and Jeremy Shaffer met with Highland County Auditor Bill Fawley during their Wednesday, Jan. 16 board meeting to go over the county’s conversion from a cash basis to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) as required by the state.
Fawley said last year this was done by Millhuff-Stang CPAs in Portsmouth. However, it was Fawley’s proposal to have the state auditor’s office perform the conversion this year. The cost would be $10,000, Fawley said.
“If that’s your recommendation, I have no problem with it,” Horst said.
Wilkin pointed out that the state has recognized that it “doesn’t make a lot of sense” for smaller counties to convert to the GAAP accounting due to the expense.
“That is correct,” Fawley said.
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Fawley also presented the year’s first permissive sales tax numbers of $475,610.38 (for November 2012), a $34,000 increase from a year ago. The December 2012 numbers (for October sales) also were higher than last year: $460,288 to $440,499.
Without the sales tax, Fawley said, the county would have been “in the red” this month.
“That proves we are living on the sales tax,” Horst said.
“We were at a $472,000 carryover (from 2012),” Wilkin said. “We need to be closer to $500,000 for next year.”
“Yes, we do,” Fawley said.