State law requires all local governments (Counties, Municipalities, and Taxing Districts) to conduct an annual audit in the months after each fiscal year, unless the Legislative Auditor as the Department of Legislative Services determines that once every four years will suffice and revenues remain less than $250,000. These reports are due to the Office of Legislative Audits on October 31.
Understanding that these are difficult times, MML wanted to share two options provided by OLA if you are concerned about your municipalities ability to meet the October 31 deadline:
1. Ask for an extension: The Office of Legislative Audits (OLA) has been very considerate and lenient in granting extensions over the years. The process for making an extension request can be found at the end of the Audit Guidelines that will be in effect for FY2020. Their office would prefer these requests be sent via email to Trevor Owen trevor.owen@mlis.state.md.us and Bob Garmin bgarman@ola.state.md.us given the difficulties presented by Covid-19.
2. If you’re not already on a once every four-year cycle and have revenues below $250,000, you can seek that determination from the Legislative Auditor. This process can also be found in the Audit Guidelines.