A state audit of Mendocino County released last week found that the county is facing persistent budget deficits, has not had sufficient oversight of spending, and had faulty processes that led to ballot errors in the 2024 primary election.
The state Legislature passed a bill last year requiring the California State Auditor to perform an audit of Mendocino County by the start of 2026. The audit cited media reports that “indicated that Mendocino has struggled financially and that errors occurred in the county’s administration of the 2024 presidential primary election.”
On the issue of the county’s finances, the nearly 100-page report audit found that Mendocino as of this month had $30.6 million in uncollected taxes, penalties, interest and fees related to default properties, and also “will continue to face persistent deficits if it does not take additional action to address its budget deficit, such as raising tax rates.”
Mendocino County also “has not exercised sufficient oversight of staff spending that would best protect it against waste, fraud, and abuse,” according to the audit released Thursday, which alleged that the county District Attorney’s Office may have violated state laws when $3,600 in public asset forfeiture funds were spent on an end-of-year event at a steakhouse for staff and their guests.
The audit also highlighted problems with the county’s administration of the 2024 primary election, in which its ballot printing vendor issued incorrect ballots to nearly every one of the more than 50,000 voters in the county. Shortly after resolving that error, another problem was found in which some voters were not placed in their correct districts, so more corrected ballots had to be sent out.
The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors plans to hold a public workshop in mid-January to discuss the audit and its recommendations, though the board’s response to the audit noted that some of the recommendations involve independently elected county officials.
District Attorney David Eyster’s response to the allegations involving his office said its use of asset forfeiture funds was legal since the use of those funds is “within the prosecution core functions and discretion afforded to elected district attorneys statewide.”
The response said, “The District Attorney and his staff will continue to evaluate the audit’s recommendations, implement improvements where appropriate, and ensure that all financial and operational practices remain firmly within the bounds of law.”
County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector Chamise Cubbison in her response said she largely agrees with the audit’s recommendations and noted her office “was understaffed for most of the reviewed period and experienced several changes in leadership, the loss of decades of institutional knowledge and changes in leadership styles and priorities.”
The county elections office in its response to the audit said it is working with contractors to remedy errors in time for elections in 2026.
This story originally appeared in The Mendocino Voice.