04/26/2016
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway has released an audit of the government of Marion County, located in northeast Missouri. The audit identifies concerns in the county's board for services for individuals with disabilities, which operates a day program and four supported living homes in Hannibal.
"Developmental disability boards play an important role for citizens in communities across the state," Auditor Galloway said. "Well-managed, transparent operations will help ensure all funds are accounted for and spent appropriately for the benefit of the individuals who depend on these services."
In Missouri, counties have the authority to create Developmental Disability Boards, sometimes referred to as Senate Bill 40 Boards, to serve a community need. The boards may collect taxes to operate residential facilities and provide services and assistance to individuals with developmental disabilities. There are currently 85 Developmental Disability Boards in operation across the state. In Marion County the board employs approximately 70 people with an annual operating budget of about $3 million, which comes from property taxes, state reimbursements and donations. The board's supported living homes currently house 10 residents and the day program serves 35 individuals, with an additional 250 clients depending on the board for transportation, case management and other support services.
The audit raised concerns with the board's processes and procedures for expenses, and made recommendations to the board for establishing policies and oversight for credit card use, and for improving bidding procedures for equipment purchases. The audit finds the board should also end some practices that are not in compliance with the law for county government operations, including providing gifts as staff incentives and the practice of offering employee pay advances.
In addition to findings related to the Developmental Disability Board, the audit found problems with operations in offices across the county, including the offices of the sheriff, county assessor and county collector.
Auditor Galloway also identified weaknesses in electronic data security across multiple county offices, including inadequate password requirements, shared user accounts, and a lack of security controls to lock computers after a specific amount of time or a number of incorrect logon attempts, which increases the risk of unauthorized access to information.
The Marion County audit report, which received an overall performance rating of "fair," is available online here.
