
Humboldt County Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez at a March 15 re-election marketing campaign kickoff speech. | File photo by Isabella Vanderheiden
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The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors will look at two goods to handle the ongoing economic turmoil linked with the Auditor-Controller’s Office environment in the course of the board’s regular assembly on Tuesday.
The board will explore a letter signed by 13 of the county’s 19 division heads who assert that Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez “has unsuccessful to fulfill the responsibilities and tasks of her place.” According to a staff report, the board will then consider taking supplemental action against Paz Dominguez, together with referring the county’s fiscal reporting shortfalls to several point out businesses.
The staff members report states:
A memo signed by section heads representing a lot more than 90% of county personnel was submitted to the Board on April 4, 2022, stating that, regardless of office heads’ attempts to support the Auditor-Controller, she has unsuccessful to satisfy the obligations and obligations of her position and as a outcome has place the county in a money crisis.
Even though the Board has acquired equivalent letters from outside businesses in education, area municipal government, workforce improvement, public basic safety and the personal sector, as well as letters from people today in just the county, the attached memo is the 1st time that a majority of department heads have submitted this sort of documentation to the Board.
The memo is sent from office leadership, the two elected and appointed, expressing that their departments are unable to collaborate with the a single department through which all economical transactions ought to be recorded, and as a result they are dealing with hazardous monetary difficulties which need to be fixed.
The board packet contains a fact sheet that lists upwards of 40 present deficiencies connected with the Auditor-Controller’s Business, together with earlier-thanks fiscal experiences, conversation failures and a lot more.
The board narrowly accredited a vote of “no confidence” in Paz Dominguez in November 2021. Earlier this thirty day period, the board was established to take into consideration a 2nd vote of “no confidence” but Paz Dominguez was not able to attend the board’s dialogue.
The workers report notes that the county Workforce Development Board has recommended that “the matter be referred to the California Good Political Tactics Commission, Workplace of the Condition of California Lawyer Normal and the State of California Department of Justice for appropriate action.”
Realignment of Payroll Services
The board will also take into account the operational realignment of payroll products and services, a county perform that has been rife with problems and controversy because the board voted to shift payroll from the Human Sources department to the Auditor-Controller’s Office environment in August 2021.
Past thirty day period, the board directed workers to glimpse into shifting payroll companies back out of the Auditor-Controller’s Business office. “Specifically, your Board directed the Interim Director of Human Means (HR), the County Administrative Officer, and the Auditor-Controller to interact in conversations regarding the collective purpose with regard to payroll functions, evaluate beforehand gathered facts regarding payroll operations, offer your Board with up-to-date conclusions, and present your Board with refined choices similar to the placement of the payroll operate,” the team report says.
The board will take into account three choices:
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Preserve payroll capabilities in the Office of the Auditor-Controller, which would be “the least disruptive to the present-day payroll process,” but would possible outcome in “additional resource requests, current conversation challenges, and troubles linked to assistance delivery.”
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Shift payroll to the County Administrative Business office, which could provide an option to stabilize payroll functions “through increased stakeholder engagement and interdepartmental collaboration, amplified communication and responsiveness, and determination to provider supply.” Having said that, there is no precedent for these kinds of a shift and it would only be short-term.
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Or, to enable the payroll function to stay in the Auditor-Controller’s Office “for extra time.” This selection seems to be virtually equivalent to the initial alternative but specifies that payroll would “remain with the [Auditor-Controller’s Office] for the near future” and consists of a listing of extra suggestions if the item were to be picked, together with the continued assistance of financial specialist KOA Hills.
The staff members report also endorses that the county keep expert services from CliftonLarsonAllen (at a charge of $259,000) to perform an audit of payroll providers to identify deficiencies.
“[CliftonLarsonAllen] will assess the county’s processes surrounding a single check payroll period,” the team report states. “…[CliftonLarsonAllen] will deliver success with an govt summary describing the scope, aims, strategy, and in general conclusion of the interior audit evaluation. In addition, [CliftonLarsonAllen] will describe inner handle deficiencies discovered alongside with system advancement suggestions.”
TOT Workgroup
The board will also think about the development of a transient occupancy tax (TOT) workgroup comprising stakeholders who would oversee and critique TOT profits and perform with county personnel to produce suggestions for the Board of Supervisors as to how the money ought to be used.
The subject was agendized in an exertion to relieve fears from regional hoteliers and hospitality industry representatives who strongly oppose Evaluate J, the Humboldt County Resort Tax Update Evaluate, which seeks to improve the TOT charge in the county’s unincorporated places from 10 percent to 12 p.c whilst also producing the tax applicable to right away RV parks and non-public campgrounds.
Members of the Humboldt Lodging Alliance (HLA) have criticized the county — in particular the County Administrative Business office — for failing to consist of field representatives in original conversations on the topic. The organization has also lifted issues about the timing of the ballot initiative and named its wording “misleading.”
“The timing of the evaluate to community hoteliers could threaten the fragile gains made by the marketplace in the latest months as the financial system recovers from Covid-relevant measures,” the alliance says in an April 22 letter. “…Moreover, even though County Staff members and elected officers have reported that the dollars would go to distinct needs, these types of as rural fire departments, homeless aid and the arts, it would nevertheless go into the unrestricted typical fund, which means the TOT resources could be utilised for any reasons linked to the functions of the County Govt. There are merely no legal guidelines or ordinances to guarantee greatest use of the TOT cash.”
The HLA is contacting for a “no” vote on Measure J, but if it have been to move, the business claimed it “would want to be an lively participant” in the proposed workgroup.
The Board of Supervisors assembly will choose location at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26. The agenda can be identified in this article.
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