WALLACE — Shoshone County is one step closer to figuring out what may have caused roughly $3 million in overspending over the past few years.  

The Shoshone Board of County Commissioners approved an additional $6,500 Monday morning to meet the $11,500 estimate that was given by Eide Bailly LLP, a certified public accountant and business advisory firm that also specializes in government audits. 

The funds came from the county’s remaining Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Funds, an extension of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. Commissioners had previously allocated $5,000 when it became apparent they would need an outside audit but weren’t sure what the costs would be.  

In August, as Shoshone County’s elected officials and department heads prepared their annual budgets, some of the numbers just weren’t adding up. 

After taking another look, the BOCC realized the county, over the course of three years, had overspent more than $3 million against its recorded revenue. 

Eide Bailly will conduct a deep analysis of the county’s financial statements from 2018 through 2022.

According to Commissioner Jeff Zimmerman, who has been tasked with handling the audit, the plan from Eide Bailly is pretty cut and dry. 

“They’re here to try and determine the cause of the deterioration of financial resources which required the sale of property, increased property taxes and carried forward cash balances that we had to do to make this (2023) budget work,” Zimmerman said. 

The county was able to pass a budget before the state’s deadline in September. However, it required a 3% property tax increase and nearly $2 million from the recent sale of county-owned property to Maverik, as well as $53,000 in foregone balance monies. This came after the original proposed budget was slashed by more than $1 million. 

Once the BOCC greenlights Eide Bailly to begin the audit, commissioners estimate it should take 40-50 hours to complete. 

All county employees and elected officials may be subject to interviews during the audit, should auditors feel they need additional information beyond what exists in the financial records. 

The budgets could be off for numerous reasons. Zimmerman and Board Chairman Dave Dose are hopeful the audit can show where any potential mistakes happened and how they can avoid making the same mistakes again. 

“This is a fact-finding mission," Dose said. "We have to figure out how the error occurred so we can start turning it around. It’s like a big ship — it’s gonna take a little while to turn.” 

In the meantime, Dose and Zimmerman have begun speaking with other elected officials and department heads to discuss potential revenue streams that may be available for county use.