Victor S. Hurlbert, CIA, CGAP, Clay County Auditor

04/21/2026

I am hiring a motivated, unbiased, and objective individual to join our small team of 5. The current vacant position is an Internal Audit Specialist. This teammate will work directly with the County Auditor on high priority internal audits.

As the County establishes a more formal internal audit function, the appropriate framework includes additional staff to assist in each audit work program and procedures. The employee will be dedicated to internal audit only with no other roles. This initiative will assist the County in audit coverage and producing more written audit reports.

You can find more information here:

View our available job openings.

04/06/2026

Thanks to a recent anonymous tip, we uncovered an issue affecting some 271 households out of 17,000+ in the first year of the Senior Real Estate Tax Credit Program (SB190), or about 1.6%.

Due to software system inadequacies and a rush to get the Program started, SB190 tax bills were manually calculated. This of course led to risk of error. With audit techniques, we discovered this error occurred in the Tax Code Area (TCA) 11 portions of unincorporated Smithville proper.

Essentially, the credit was incorrectly calculated because wrong 2024 base levy rates had been inputted for just the Smithville School District. TCA 11 participants in the Program paid roughly only 65% of amounts actually owed.

As a result, bills are being sent out for the difference. The total between first payment and the correcting bill is often slightly less than the prior year, on account of a Smithville School District Tax levy transfer issue approved in April 2025. Regardless, understandably this will upset many taxpayers.

The County is therefore of course not charging any late penalties or interest because it was, after all, an unintentional County mistake.

While certainly unfortunate, the right, fair, and required thing to do is bill the amounts outstanding.

Other recommendations to prevent this in the future are to create better systems with automated procedures. Or, in the interim, better check and systematize the manual steps in use.

We estimate this audit finding will result in recovering some $443,704.16 of revenues for Smithville Schools, when fully collected. After a thorough review, we do not believe similar errors occurred in other Senior Tax Credit bills.

After hearing from citizens upset with the recent news, I am issuing this statement. The Commission discussed it two weeks ago as well at its meeting.

Below, you can see a graphic of what occurred:

03/31/2026

I appear to be unopposed in the upcoming elections. I sincerely want to say thank you to all Clay County citizens for their trust. This past term brought Clay County to the forefront of Missouri as a leader, a 180 degree turn from the past.

Now is time to accelerate and reach greater performance. Armed with a new certification as a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), I'm well aware of pressing risks facing our County and, simultaneously, opportunities to improve.

The number one objective for me is always quite simple, I listen to you and audit accordingly. Who's ready?

03/17/2026

Fiscal year 2025 financial statements audit released for the Clay County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children. This nonprofit (circuit7.net/casa) advocates for abused/neglected children in the Court system and interfaces with the County Juvenile Department.

The audit was requested because it is a requirement to apply for grant funding from the Clay County Children's Services Fund, a 1/4 cent sales tax in Clay County.

The full report is here. We had no modifications or findings for the auditee:

claycountymo.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2894/2025-Friends-of-Clay-County-CASA-Inc-Financial-Statements-Audit

03/14/2026

Good 5k race before Snake Saturday in NKC to support Life Unlimited, an organization serving residents with disabilities.

Might be getting a tad slower, but staying with it!

03/06/2026

Last July, I testified before the Property Tax Reform Special Committee. I offered a bipartisan, commonsense solution to set separate tax rates based on property classification (residential, commercial, agricultural, personal).

This isolates market changes, such that there's a greater rollback to the rate if the property type grows faster than others--which has been the case recently for residential. The rollback is required under Missouri's Hancock Amendment to the Constitution. Total revenues can increase no more than the lesser of inflation or 5% (this is being looked at too).

Many have supported this idea as well. In fact, it's already an option to set taxes in this manner. Locally, the City of Gladstone, for example, does so. Not many cities, counties, or otherwise do, however. This bill makes it mandatory.

I urge the Senate to do its part now to provide greater relief to residential homeowners.

The Missouri House initially perfected the bill last month but sent it back to committee, where the measure was ultimately split into two pieces of legislation.

02/23/2026

Thought I'd let folks know that I recently joined the US Army Reserves. I got this name badge from my sister, who serves today in the Air Force Reserves and used to do so in the Army Reserves. I am proud to continue a family tradition of being in the armed forces.

I wanted to inform the public as there could be brief times where I am not readily available at the County as a result. But, rest assured, it certainly won't take away from working hard at the County. On the contrary, I believe leadership learned from the military will only benefit my abilities at the County.

While most of my identity might be wrapped up in the Navy as a Naval Academy graduate and active duty veteran, the Army Reserves made more sense at this point in my life.

Why now? I wanted to keep giving back to not only my County and community, but the nation overall. I thank those who helped me along the way to get here.

Now the question of course will be who to root for every December for the Army-Navy game. I'll say both (but Go Navy!).

*The Department of War does not endorse these statements or my Office

02/18/2026

Another good time spent speaking with State legislators about County government

02/07/2026

Received one of the best, if not the best , compliments ever as Auditor from a constituent:

"Thank you for your integrity, your professionalism, and for using your role to bring transparency where it is needed most."

I am so very appreciative of that remark, along with the Office. Rather than viewing it as if I've arrived or to brag, however, it only humbly motivates me to keep going and push further. That's my commitment to you always and going forward.

Often the profession of auditing can bring some uncertainty to know if your work makes a difference. Words like these certainly encourage and motivate me to stay at it. Dig deeper.

I also need to hear from you the public. Engage with your local government and seek answers. Audits can help.

Let's go.

01/30/2026

Glad to announce I have completed all three tests to successfully become a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).

Through work and life, it didn't come all too easy and took a good year and a half to complete.

At the end of the day, however, Clay County residents can know their County Auditor holds the most recognized audit-specific certification. While already a Certified Government Auditing Professional (CGAP) through the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) as well, the CGAP is no longer offered to new applicants.

The main objective of earning a CIA is to put forward the best internal audit function possible. We owe it to the taxpayers. Next up: peer review for quality assurance.

12/26/2025

This past year of 2025 was a busy, but very successful one for the Clay County Auditor's Office. We made vast improvements and only to look to continue forward into 2026.

Here are some highlights--

2025 Accomplishments:

✅️ Eight discretionary audits performed (Public Administrator guardianship, payroll vacancy savings analysis, Juvenile Transitions financial statements 2023-2024, cash inventory, Senior Real Estate Property Tax Credit eligibility compliance audit, capital assets inventory, Tri-County Mental Health Board audit)
✅️ Helped save the County ~$600,000 in future costs and recovered $210,189 of back costs due to a Census calculation error related to the KC vs. County proportions of Election Board expenditures

2026 Goals:

☑️ Begin process of seeking a current peer review for quality assurance of the internal audit function
☑️ Seek consensus on prefiled legislation to better clarify a County Auditor's ability to responsibly audit local governments in the County, where warranted