Iowa Auditor Rob Sand Talks New Law That Is Impacting His Office

Iowa Auditor Rob Sand talks with community members on the Oskaloosa Square this past week.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Iowa Auditor Rob Sand stopped on the Square in Oskaloosa this past week, where approximately 20 individuals gathered to hear him talk about a recent law that he says is impacting his ability to do his job as the state auditor.

His concern is that departments can now withhold documents and other vital information that make a complete accounting of the expenditure of tax dollars difficult or impossible, depending on the agency or individual in charge of the agency.

Sand also took questions from those in attendance, which included if his office investigates entities that don’t use public money and being able to account for public dollars with a new program that allows parents to choose what school the public tax dollars go to for their child, such as private schools.

Sand said that he didn’t know if his office would have the ability to look into how public tax dollars are being spent at private schools under the new law. “There’s really no oversight.”

Sand explained that private schools in Iowa are not required to have an annual audit or make their meetings open to the public.

Sand also touched on his PIE program, which started in 2019 and was designed to encourage government agencies to find ways to save money, and those ideas are then shared with other government agencies.

Sand then recognizes those entities yearly. Sand hinted that there may be agencies within Mahaska County that will be awarded a pie in the near future.