Lake County, OH — Lake County taxpayers can take pride in Laketran’s continuous commitment to fiscal responsibility.  Laketran’s was presented the “Ohio Auditor of State Award with Distinction” on Monday, October 24, 2016 by Dave Yost, Auditor of State staff representative Rebecca Widowski-Armstrong.   It is the 20^th consecutive year Laketran has received an unqualified opinion with no material citations, material weaknesses, significant deficiencies, Single Audit findings, or any questioned costs. This is the best opinion available for this type of audit.

To earn a “clean” audit report and receive an award, agencies must file timely financial reports in the form of a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) that meets strict requirement.  The award was for fiscal year ending in 2015. The audit covered the 2015 fiscal year, ending December 2015.  The operating cost for the agency in 2015 was $13 million.

“Good finance is important to everything government does, Auditor Yost said in a news release. “Sound budgetary decisions depend of clean and accurate books.”

“Our staff and leadership team work very closely to be prudent and thorough in our financial practices.  These audit findings confirm that we operate with high ethical standards and have necessary internal controls to ensure an accurate and accountable use of public funds that comes from the local sales tax levy, the State of Ohio, federal grants and our riders,” commented Colling.

Nationally, Laketran and Colling also received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for the 2016 budget. This award reflects Laketran’s commitment to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting.

“Here at Laketran we recognize we are stewards of the public’s trust and resources, and we strive to uphold the highest level of integrity in all our operations,” stated Ray Jurkowski, general manager of Laketran. “A clean audit is key to assuring tax payers that we take our fiduciary duties seriously, and that we are using the taxpayers’ funds to provide the services the community expects of us.”

Laketran Board President, Brian Falkowski praised Colling for her leadership, “Twenty years of consistently clean audits is no small accomplishment.  Laketran is proud of our talented staff that is dedicated to the responsible management of public funds.  The Laketran Board of Trustees appreciates the management team’s commitment to excellence.”