Bill would change authority board audit requirements

A proposal allowing local recreational-authority boards to spend more of their budgets on improving the communities they represent was recently approved by the House Local Government and Municipal Finance Committee.

Backed by State Rep. Aaron Miller, House Bill 4408 changes audit requirements from annual to once every two years for authority boards that do not levy taxes.

Miller said some authorities spend nearly half their annual budget on audits to comply with current requirements.

Miller earlier this month was joined in testimony before the House Local Government and Municipal Finance Committee by St. Joseph County Clerk Lindsay Oswald, who serves as volunteer director for Three Rivers-based River Country Recreational Authority.

Oswald commented that past budgets for the authority have been eaten up by audits – including a year where the organization had just one transaction – but that it was necessary to conduct them under the law as a government entity.

The Bill moves to the House Ways and Means Committee for further consideration.