PORT ANGELES — Selinda Barkhuis bought a new number-stamping machine for her office immediately after she was sworn in as Clallam County’s new treasurer in January 2011, she told the Port Angeles Business Association this week.
The old one, which was about 20 years old, skipped certain consecutive numbers as it tallied real estate excise tax transactions.
That malfunction was cited in a Treasurer’s Office financial scandal that preceded political newcomer Barkhuis’ election into the office held by incumbent Treasurer and longtime county employee Judy Scott in November 2010.
The purchase was among the changes that Barkhuis, a former Realtor and a non-practicing lawyer, enacted to address circumstances surrounding the embezzlement of from $617,467 to $795,595 between June 2003 and May 2009 by former Treasurer’s Office cashier Catherine Betts, Barkhuis said.
Betts, found guilty July 27 of first-degree theft, money-laundering and 19 counts of filing false and fraudulent tax returns on behalf of the county, is serving 12 years in prison.
Her conviction has been appealed to the state Court of Appeals.
Betts’ crime was then the fifth-largest embezzlement of public funds in the state of Washington in at least 10 years, according to the state Auditor’s Office.
“I feel really confident in saying to you this isn’t going to happen again,” Barkhuis told PABA members at a breakfast meeting Tuesday as she outlined measures she has taken during close to a year in office.
Measures taken
Among those steps: monitoring and tightening the collection, processing and disbursement of $79 million annually in taxpayers’ money to county taxing districts in 2012.
The old numbering machine helped Betts, the office cashier, hide a cash-for-checks scheme involving real estate excise tax proceeds that she stole from the office’s cash drawer, according to testimony at her trial.
The money has never been recovered.
Betts manipulated spreadsheets that contained real estate excise tax transactions to make them look as if no money was missing, and when Scott and former office accountant Ann Stallard noticed some tax affidavits were not in order, the problem was attributed to the defective numbering machine, not a potential crime, Stallard testified.
“That skipping numbering machine was blamed for a lot that happened, but it was still being used and still skipping numbers,” even when Barkhuis took office, Barkhuis told business association members.
Other changes: Citizens can no longer cash checks at the Treasurer’s Office, the duties for processing real estate excise tax transactions have been divided among office staff, and written cash-handling policies have been instituted, Barkhuis said.
Her presentation Tuesday was reminiscent of her 2010 campaign for the four-year treasurer’s term.
“Lots of money was being processed, going through the office, coming in all directions, going out in all directions, with no written policies in place,” Barkhuis said.
“Without having any [cash-handling policies] in writing, how can you review, how can you do audits, how can you make sure things are happening the way they are supposed to be happening?”
The “line of command” for handling cash has been replaced, she said, praising her current staff, whom she said were essential in producing new internal controls that are reviewed annually, Barkhuis said.
“During the [Betts] trial, there were all sorts of comments that the whole office was involved,” she said.
“This protects them, and they know it.”
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Senior staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
