ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — Orangeburg County is one of several counties that has not submitted their year-end audit to the State Treasurer’s Office. This has led to over $10 million in funds being withheld from the county.
The State Treasurer’s Office says they withhold “aid to subdivision funds’ from any county that does not submit their year-end audits on time.
The late submission leaves over $10 million on hold for Orangeburg County.
County Administrator Harold Young says the delay is due to several reasons.
“The delay happened because of change in software and also some turnover in personnel,” Young said. “One of the disadvantages we have right now with county government is high level positions, when we lose them, its hard to replace because we can't compete with private sector salaries.
2023 is the second time that Orangeburg has been late on their audits. It also happened in 2022.
But Young vows that won’t happen next year.
“It’s a domino effect. You can’t start the next one until you finish the last one, and so because the last one was late, this one got a late start," Young said. "And so, we’re overcoming that because now we’re almost finished, and to start the 2024 audit, we should be starting right where we're starting it now, so we’ve overcome that, and we’ll be back on track, so it’s just a cycle."
The deadline for counties to submit year-end audits is Jan. 1.