Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns and Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick are going back and forth over the comptroller’s latest audit of the clerk’s office.

Kearns said the comptroller’s office’s sample size for the audit was too small and that some of the findings are false.

The main findings of this audit were undistributed funds from mortgage taxes, which Kearns elaborated on at a press conference Thursday.

Kearns said his office operates with 99.9% accuracy and denied the clerk’s Office is a "mess," but did admit clerical errors occurred due to the software that was used. He also said those errors are being fixed. 

Hardwick said Kearns is demonstrating that he does not understand the audit and may even be exposing more issues within the clerk’s office.

Hardwick defends that the audit was done correctly.

“That audit should be taken down," said Kearns. "According to generally accepted government standards, the audit should be performed with competence, integrity and objectivity.”

“We won’t be taking any audit down," said Hardwick. "We stand by the audit. I stand by the auditors. Most of them are career civil servants and they’ve done an excellent job on this.” 

Hardwick said he recommended that Kearns hire an independent auditor, which could cost between $50,000 and $100,000.