Just last week, Loudon County was officially notified that once again, county government has received a clean audit. This makes 7 out of the last 8 years the county has had a clean audit. What that means is, after the state comes in and audits all the records from all departments, they found no instances of any errors that would have resulted in mishandling of any accounts throughout county government. This is no simple accomplishment.

Loudon County's budget is now more than one hundred million dollars annually. There are nearly 80 different departments and more than a thousand employees. The state audit is no small matter. Auditors are here for weeks looking through every financial action the county has made in the previous fiscal year. The 7 out of 8 years of clean county audits is an accomplishment, that few,
if any other counties can claim.

Not withstanding the state's audit reports to the contrary, there are a few individuals who claim that the county is corrupt and that all manner of nefarious actions are going on, that commissioners are guilty of all kinds of illegal actions. Of course never offering a shred of evidence to back up their libelous accusations. There is a couple, new to the county, who attend the commission and school board meetings to tell us how wrong we're doing everything. I'll let you guess where they live. They even attended an election commission meeting last week to get them straightened out. I've never seen two people more wrong, more often and on every topic than those two are.

Below are just a few excerpts from a social media post.

"I hate to tell you all but the fraud, waste, abuse & corruption is not only in the federal government! Loudon County, TN should be the poster child for waste, fraud, abuse & corruption!"
 

"One way or another the hammer is going to drop on Loudon County Government & LCBOE for the waste, fraud, abuse & corruption you all have been involved in."
 

"No one including myself ever thought we would see the day that the federal government would finally be held accountable for this so if this can finally happen on the federal level then we need to make it happen at our county level! The time for change has come!!
 

This is what is fixing to happen here in Loudon County, TN because we are fed up with the wasteful spending, the corruption, lies, fraud & abuse that has been going on for years. It is all fixing to come to a head, the truth is going to come to light & those responsible will face the consequences of their actions!"

To all those who would claim the county is so corrupt, it's time to put up or shut up. We've all heard enough. Being ignorant of facts is one matter. Willingly displaying that ignorance publically over and over, is an entirely different matter.

While it takes the efforts of all county officials to achieve these clean audits year after year, much if not most of the credit has to go the the Loudon County finance department led by the director, Erin Rice. How in the world they get it all done with such efficiency is hard to imagine.

Good job Loudon County.