Roughly eight thousand dollars has gone missing from a Jefferson County jail account over the last three years, and apparently there’s little hope of getting it back. That isn’t a huge sum by government standards, but an investigation into the problem reflects very badly on the county treasurer’s office.

Jefferson County Treasurer Deena Goss is responsible for the county’s $30 million-plus annual budget. She’s also responsible for a trust account that holds jail inmates’ money for their use while behind bars.

Over the last three years, some $7,993 has vanished from the jail account. When he took office last year, Sheriff Jim Adkins discovered the problem and decided to look into it.

Adkins called in the state Justice Department and asked it to look at his own office and the county treasurer’s office, both of which are filled by election. Justice issued its report last fall. They could not prove criminal conduct, investigators said, but they did cite errors in basic accounting by the treasurer as possibly responsible for the missing money.

All in all, the report should present real problems both for Goss and for voters in the county. It calls “highly suspicious” problems that occurred only when Goss handled the cash.

That suspicion was “fueled by the fact that every time there is a discrepancy,” funds go missing. Still, the report goes on to say, the error could arise from sloppy bookkeeping rather than criminal conduct.

Goss counters by saying the bookkeeping errors were made by the sheriff’s office which, she argues, did not properly create or retain accounting reports of the cash. Still, as the Justice Department notes, ultimate responsibility for the task lies not with the sheriff, but with the treasurer.

For that reason, taxpayers in Jefferson County have reason to worry about the competence of their treasurer. They should find someone with sharper skills to oppose Goss should she seek re-election next year.