Baker County approves long-delayed 2020-21 audit, starts backlog cleanup

Baker County commissioners took their first formal step toward repairing a five-year audit backlog when they unanimously approved the county’s 2020-21 financial audit at a special meeting at the Baker County Courthouse in Baker City.

The review covers the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2021, and its approval matters far beyond bookkeeping. Oregon law requires counties and other public entities that assess property taxes to have annual audits completed on schedule, a basic safeguard for taxpayers, lenders and state overseers who depend on current financial records to judge whether public money is being handled properly.

Tracy Jones, who joined the meeting by Zoom, said the 2020-21 audit was clean, with no compliance problems and no deficiencies. That finding suggests Baker County’s books for that year were sound, even though the county fell years behind on later reports. Jones also credited county administrative services director Christena Cook for helping produce the records needed to finish the work.

The county’s delay has made it an outlier statewide. The Oregon Secretary of State’s Office says annual audit reports are generally due by Dec. 31, six months after the end of the fiscal year, though extensions can push some deadlines to June 30. In its April 2026 summary, the state said 1,841 municipalities were registered and 1,204 were expected to file audit reports for fiscal year 2024, with 114 still not filed as of Dec. 31, 2025. In a separate delinquent-filers memo, the office said 238 entities were delinquent on 374 reports as of Dec. 8, 2025, more than double the 112 entities first reported in 2017.

Baker County’s problem is worse than that broader statewide pattern. The state’s January delinquent-filers memo said 238 taxing districts were delinquent by at least one year, and none was behind on as many audits as Baker County. The 2020-21 report was the first of five annual audits the county failed to complete.

Commissioner Michelle Kaseberg, elected in November 2024 and sworn in in January 2025, said she first learned about the delinquent audits after filing as a candidate. She said the county’s amended contract with Pauly Rogers & Co. aims to finish two audits per year until the backlog is cleared. Under that schedule, the 2021-22 audit is expected by June 30 and will cost $83,000, including preparation of financial statements and the audit itself.

For Baker County, the stakes are bigger than one missed deadline. The county assesses property taxes, borrows money, manages public services and depends on credibility with residents and state officials. A clean 2020-21 audit gives the county a starting point, but the backlog will not disappear until the next deadlines are met and the books are brought fully current.