HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County’s latest audit is showing the county’s cash reserve at the end of 2025 was $20.3 million, probably the highest it’s been since 2013 when it jumped to $20.6 million after the county sold Valley View Home.

“That’s very healthy,” Derek Schroeder, auditor and senior manager of Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC, said of the $20.3 million reserve — $460,365 higher than reported in 2024. “That’s about five months of operating expenses.”

While commissioners Dave Kessling, Amy Webster and Laura Burke welcomed the positive report, they pointed out that having a cash reserve is helpful.

In 2025 when state lawmakers were 135 days late with passing the 2025-26 budget, Blair County relied on reserve funds to keep up with its payroll and bills.

“And here we sit again with no state budget,” Burke said.

This is the fifth consecutive year that state lawmakers have failed to adopt a budget by the June 30 deadline.

Having a reserve fund also keeps the county from incurring the cost of a tax anticipation note (TAN), a common borrowing practice for some counties at the beginning of the calendar year, prior to the arrival of real estate tax revenue.

“We almost had to take out a TAN this year,” Blair County Finance Director Lindsay Dempsie said in reference to the state’s late budget fallout.

Dempsie, who builds the county’s budget and works with commissioners on tracking revenue and expenditures, recognized the increase in cash reserves to $20.3 million as a positive sign for the county.

“It’s absolutely the best financial picture in years for what we have in reserves,” she said.

In recent years, commissioners have also relied on the availability of cash reserves to help balance the county’s annual budget when expenditures are projected to exceed revenue, in addition to increasing real estate taxes.

For 2025, the audit shows the county collected $42.26 million in real estate tax revenue, based on a real estate tax rate of 4.883 mills. That was $3.7 million more than the $38.55 million collected in 2024 when real estate taxes were at 4.522 mills.

The audit also showed the county’s long-term outstanding debt decreased by $2.33 million to $11.57 million as of Dec. 31, 2025.

The county’s net pension liability was down to $70.1 million as of Dec. 31, 2025, a decrease of $1.47 million since Dec. 31, 2024.

The audit identified two findings — an amount that has become typical in recent years and far fewer than the 40 to 50 findings that were common before the county started using the Munis accounting system that Controller A.C. Stickel recommended in December 2016, almost 10 years ago.

The first finding in the 2025 audit recognized the theft of $17,987 from the treasurer’s office. In July 2025, Hollidaysburg police arrested former Deputy Treasurer Brenda Ann Bryan who is accused of retaining cash meant to be deposited into the county’s accounts. She remains free on unsecured bail and her felony charges are scheduled for an in-court review on Aug. 27.

The audit indicated that duties within the treasurer’s office should be segregated so that different individuals handle collecting, depositing and accounting responsibilities.

In response to the finding, Treasurer Jim Carothers advised that his office recognizes the importance of segregating duties and makes an effort to do so.

“A complete segregation of duties is not always possible due to our limited staff size, but we strive to maintain such segregation whenever we can,” Carothers reported to the auditors.

The second finding in the audit identified delays in bank reconciliation tasks and attributed it to staff turnover in the treasurer’s office. The auditors said those delays have a potential to affect the county’s ability to initiate, record and to reliably process financial data.

Those two findings — the lack of segregating duties and late bank reconciliations — were also reported in the county’s 2024 audit.

Blair County started relying on the Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC for auditing services in 2023. In late 2022, then-commissioners Bruce Erb, Laura Burke and Amy Webster opted to end what was a longtime practice of using Young, Oakes, Brown & Co. of Altoona for audits.

While they offered no criticism of the Altoona company, Erb suggested that it was wise to periodically use a different company. Commissioners also agreed at that time that if a company is awarded a three-year contract, then it would be eligible for one renewal of an additional three years.

In March, commissioners Kessling, Webster and Burke approved a letter authorizing Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC to audit the county’s 2025, 2026 and 2027 fiscal years.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.