According to county Finance Director Gary Humphreys, more than $15.5 million is missing from individual capital project accounts -- sort of. Most of that money, he said, isn't really missing but was logged under the wrong accounts or line items or will come from bonds that have already been approved but have yet to be sold.

Humphreys discovered the discrepancies, most of which date back at least five years, after he was hired near the end of last fiscal year.

"This is like a Chinese puzzle," said Humphreys, who also said the discrepancies existed before he or County Manager Laura Blackmon took their jobs and before the county moved to a new accounting system in 2003.

Humphreys gave the county commissioners a few examples of project shortfalls at a work session Tuesday night. Those added up to about $2 million, but he did not provide a full accounting of the $15.5 million.

If all this sounds a little confusing, well, the commissioners agree.

"This is all very mysterious, the way you've explained it," Commissioner Alice Gordon told Humphreys at a work session Tuesday night. "It's pretty hard to see what's going on. ... There's a massive amount of money moving around."

In a report to the board, Humphreys said there were a lot of reasons the money was not where it belonged: Revenues were put in the wrong accounts; anticipated grants were not received; projects cost more than anticipated; and bond revenues were budgeted before the bonds were issued.

"If I were to be asked to explain it to somebody else, I might be able to do it," said Commissioners Chairman Barry Jacobs. "I'm not sure I'd be right. I might be able to sound authoritative, but I'm not sure I'd be right."

The commissioners expect more information from the finance department at their meeting on Nov. 13. They'll have to approve spending the $5.9 million from the fund balance, as well as reallocating an additional $9.6 million from other places in the capital budget.

Humphreys said about $4.1 million is available from unallocated loans, capital reserves, interest earnings and project budget surpluses, and another $5.5 million in already-approved bonds must be sold in order to replenish the county's capital project fund and keep projects moving forward.

"The projects are going on. We haven't stopped anything," said Humphreys. "We're getting the money from the sources that we've identified where it should have come from all along."

Commissioner Mike Nelson thinks voters will be in no mood to hear about troubles with the county's books. He said voters are already angry because some of these park bonds approved in 2001 haven't been issue and the parks haven't been built.

"Now in probably the toughest budget year we've had in a decade, we're going to have to find [more than] $5 million to cover these mistakes," he said.

County Manager Laura Blackmon said moving the $5.9 million will bring the county's fund balance to about $22 million, or 11.1 percent of annual expenditures. That's where it would have been had the accounting mistakes not been made, but it's nearly 30 percent below the county's informal target of 15 percent.

"If we mess up like this, I can't see us getting more money from the public any time soon," Blackmon said.