Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Fair Board told to change financial practices

Brad Crain, with Dalrymple-Crain Accounting, gave a financial analysis of the Nevada County Fair Boards pageant fund bank account.

Crain stressed the analysis was not an audit and an audit couldnt be done with the information provided him by the Board. He did tell the Board what he noticed in doing the analysis.

First, he said, all income is not being deposited into the bank account. According to the revenue that should have been generated from ads, contestant applications and donations from civic club, about $3,910 should have been collected. This, he added, does not include any money received at the door for admission into the pageants. Only $3,864 was deposited into the funds account.

Crain said all money collected, especially cash, should be deposited into the bank account so it will be clear how much was received.

The second thing he noted was too many expenses are being paid with cash. Crain was given receipts totaling $974.72, with another $809.36 of estimated cash expenses where there were no receipts. Cash, he said, should not be used to pay expenses. It should be deposited with the expenses paid with a check and the receipts kept.

Otherwise, he said, it is impossible to be sure how much money was received and how much was paid out. He suggested creating a small petty cash fund so small expenses could be paid, but said all major expenses should be paid by check.

The third finding is money collected at the door for pageants is not being counted and verified by two people immediately. He told the Board he asked for the amount collected at the door during the pageants but the figures couldnt be provided to him. Without immediate counts and verification by more than one person, it is impossible to determine whether the appropriate amount of money was deposited into the bank.

His fourth finding was only one signature was required on the account, This, though, has been changed and now two people must sign checks.

We can clearly state, he said, that the handling of cash must be improved. Without improvement in this area, the Board of Directors cannot be sure that money is not being mishandled. Additionally, the Board of Directors cannot have any confidence in reviewing the financial performance of the pageants.

No action or discussion followed Crains report.

The next item of business was to elect new officers for the Board. John Henderson will be the new president with Clark Crellin vice president. Tara Carlton is the secretary with Carol Tyree remaining as treasurer. Hoyt Jobe was named Fair Manager.

Henderson said all building rentals will now be handled by Mary Godwin, director of the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce. This is because of the number of calls the Chamber receives concerning the buildings at the fairgrounds.

Guidelines for renting the buildings, he said, will be set and this issue will be addressed again at the February meeting.

In talking about the pageant committee, Lisa McClure, pageant director, said anyone with a child in the pageant cant be on the panel the year the child is in the pageant.

The committee will include Sherry Caldwell, who was inducted as a new Board member, Brandi Karlovec, Tracy Ellis and Janet McAdams.

Members of the committee will be responsible for taking admissions at the door during the pageants. They will also be involved in selecting judges for the pageants, among other duties.

Henderson said the Board needs to redo its bylaws. There is a committee for this, but it had no report ready.

Rex Dollar, with the Nevada County Extension Service, said Dianne Wolfe has been handling the premium checks by herself, and this is a busy time of year for the Service. He asked if a Board member with a computer could help so premium checks could be done quicker. She has been doing this on her own time with no compensation.

It was decided to see if Wolfe would continue taking care of the premium checks on her own time if the Board paid her for the service. Dollar said he would check and report back to the Board.