DENVER — A judge will decide next week if Adams County Treasurer Lisa Culpepper followed the law regarding accounting for public funds.
Culpepper's attorneys filed a motion this month following a year-long lawsuit filed by Adams County, which claims Culpepper did not comply with an audit of her office and failed to reconcile more than $200 million.
According to Adams County Deputy Manager Jim Siedlecki, this is the first time the county has had to take their own treasurer to court.
"As a matter of fact, every elected official in the history of Adams County has complied with our audit," Siedlecki said. "Every other treasurer, every other elected office that we asked to participate cooperates with an audit."
J.Kirk McGill with the Hall Estill law firm is representing Culpepper. He puts the blame on county commissioners, telling Denver7 Culpepper was simply doing what was right.
"When the county started making requests for money to be dispersed without adequate documentation, the treasurer refused to write those checks until the documentation was received," McGill said. "This case is about the treasurer standing up to the board of county commissioners."
The county completed its audit on August 30, which Adams County Judge Mark Warner will review before determining if Culpepper followed the law.
While the audit found no significant deficiencies and no "noncompliance material to financial statements," it did identify a "material weakness in internal control over financial reporting."
The audit's financial statement findings state, "It was noted that reconciliations performed between the County’s bank statements and the Treasurer’s Office general ledger were not being properly reviewed or performed in a timely manner. It was noted that year-end reconciliations between December 2021 bank statements and the Treasurer’s Office general ledger were not prepared until April 2022 without evidence of proper review by an individual other than the preparer."
As a result, the audit recommended that Culpepper"develop, document and implement policies and procedures requiring County staff to perform cash balance reconciliations within prescribed timelines as well as requiring staff to perform an adequate review of prepared reconciliations."
The treasurer's office has since created the recommended policy.
"There is no indication in the audit of any missing money," McGill said. "The treasurer's office are reconciled on all major accounts within 30 days, which is the industry standard. The $215 million they're referring to, which that number isn't remotely accurate, but the money they're talking about is money that's waiting on paperwork from the commissioners."
In the middle of this back and forth legal battle are Adams County taxpayers, who are responsible for paying Culpepper's legal fees, which will likely be north of $250,000.
The Denver Post reported earlier this month that the Colorado Supreme Court ordered Adams County to pay for Culpepper's legal expenses, calling their refusal to do so an "abuse of discretion."
Culpepper is running as a write-in for the treasurer's office in the upcoming November election after not making the primary.