FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media contact: countyclerkmedia@oklahomacounty.org

OKLAHOMA CITY - Following a review and reconciliation of Oklahoma County financial records, the State Auditor has verified that the fund balance available for Oklahoma County’s Fiscal Year 2026-27 is $25,942,625, providing county officials with a verified figure upon which to base the county’s General Fund budget.
 
As part of the process, financial records and supporting documentation were reviewed to reconcile county ledger balances and ensure the fund balance used for the Estimate of Needs accurately reflects the county’s financial position.
 
Oklahoma County Clerk Maressa Treat and Oklahoma County Treasurer Forrest “Butch” Freeman reviewed the State Auditor’s findings and supporting documentation and signed an attestation confirming their agreement with the findings.
 
“This independent review gives county officials and taxpayers confidence that we are working from accurate, reconciled numbers as we move forward with the county budget,” Treat said. “The State Auditor has reviewed the records, confirmed the numbers and established a verified balance. That process has now been completed, and we can move forward with confidence in the number being used to build the budget.”
 
Treat said the successful reconciliation resolves the immediate question surrounding the fund balance but also reinforces a broader concern she has raised about the way financial information is managed across Oklahoma County government.
 
County elected offices currently operate using different financial systems, processes and methods of maintaining financial information. Treat has called for a comprehensive review of those systems and for county leaders to explore moving toward a common financial platform or another integrated solution that would allow information to be more easily reconciled and verified across county government.
 
“The State Auditor helped us do exactly what needed to be done: bring the records together, reconcile the information and establish a number everyone can rely on,” Treat said. “But county government should have systems in place that make that kind of reconciliation comprehensible and straightforward. We need to take what we learned through this process and use it to build a stronger financial infrastructure.”
 
Treat emphasized that the discrepancies that prompted the review did not involve missing county funds. Rather, they involved errors in the way financial information was entered or reported. She said better coordination among county financial systems could provide additional safeguards to identify those types of human errors before they affect financial reporting.
 
“People make mistakes. Good systems are designed to catch them,” Treat said. “When different offices are operating through different systems and processes, it becomes much more difficult to create meaningful countywide checks and balances. A more coordinated system would give elected officials and taxpayers a clearer picture of county finances while helping us identify discrepancies sooner.”
 
Treat said she will continue advocating for county leaders to examine the financial systems and processes used across elected offices and determine what steps are necessary to improve integration, reconciliation and transparency.
 
The goal, she said, should be a system in which county financial information can be more readily compared and reconciled across offices, creating stronger safeguards while reducing the likelihood that data-entry or reporting errors go undetected.
 
“The answer is not to pretend human error will never happen again,” Treat said. “The answer is to build systems that are better at catching it. Oklahoma County has an opportunity to come out of this process with stronger checks and balances, greater transparency and a more coordinated approach to managing taxpayer dollars.”

Treat said the Auditor’s verification allows the county to move forward with its FY 2026–27 budgeting process while providing an opportunity to focus on longer-term improvements.

“We asked for an independent review because taxpayers deserved certainty about the numbers,” Treat said. “Now that we have that certainty, the next question should be what we can learn from this process. I believe the answer is clear: Oklahoma County needs a modern, coordinated financial system that makes it easier to reconcile information and give taxpayers confidence in the financial information their government provides.”

 
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Oklahoma County Clerk’s Office
320 Robert S. Kerr Avenue, #203, Oklahoma City, OK 73102
405.713.1540