The Madison County Supervisors met on Tuesday, November 25, for their regularly scheduled meeting. On the agenda was the opening of bids for the annual county audit. Two bids were received and opened at the meeting. The first bid was from the Iowa State Auditor’s Office. The State of Iowa’s bid is $102,250 for Fiscal Year 2025, $107,250 for FY2026, and $112,350 for FY2027. The second bid was from Mauldin & Jenkins LLC, based out of Georgia, who bid $70,000 for Fiscal Year 2025, $72,500 for FY2026, and $75,000 for FY2027.
The bid from the Iowa State Auditor was 49% more than that of Mauldin & Jenkins LLC. After the supervisors opened the bid packets, Supervisor Diane Fitch appeared to be disappointed that the State Auditor was more expensive. She stated, “We’re sending taxpayers’ money to another state.” Supervisor Heather Stancil responded, “I think taxpayers would rather spend less money.” The cost difference between the two bids amounted to over $106,000 over the three-year period.
A large part of the cost difference is likely due to the amount of time each entity used in their calculation of the bid. The Iowa State Auditor stated 1,000 hours, whereas Mauldin & Jenkins stated 550 hours for FY2025 and 500 hours for subsequent years. According to Supervisor Stancil, the bid from Mauldin & Jenkins stated their bid was an “all-inclusive maximum fee.” The Iowa State Auditor used similar language.
The three supervisors agreed that they were not ready to vote on a resolution to approve the hire of a contractor for county audit services. They voted to table that resolution to their Dec. 9 meeting to allow time to review details of the two bids.
