YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

In April 2000, the city paid a total of $1,450 in severance pay to the former City Clerk and Chief of Police upon their resignation.  This appears to represent additional compensation for services previously rendered, and as such, is in violation of the Missouri Constitution. 

The city paid $2,400 to the former Police Chief for the lease of law enforcement equipment during the year ended December 31, 1999 and $1,374 to a service garage owned by an alderman for repair and maintenance services on city vehicles in July 1998.  The equipment rental and the garage services were not competitively bid.  The former City Clerk indicated the city did obtain price quotes on the equipment rental; however, no documentation could be located. 

Personal interests in business matters of the city create the appearance of conflicts of interest and a lack of independence that could harm public confidence in the mayor and board and reduce their effectiveness.  State law prohibits financial transactions between the city and an officer or employee (or spouse, dependent child, or business and corporate interest of the officer or employee) that involve $500 per transaction or $1,500 per year unless there had been public notice to solicit proposals and (except for real property) competitive bidding, provided that the bid or offer was the lowest received.   

The city pays wage and fringe benefit expenses from the general, water, sewer, and street funds.  Records were not available to support the amounts charged to each of these funds. 

Salaries of city officials and employees have not been established by ordinance.  State law requires the Board of Aldermen to fix the salaries of all city officials and employees by ordinance.  

The city exceeded the budgeted disbursement amounts in various funds during the year ended December 31, 1999, such as the General Fund by approximately $30,000 and the Water Fund by approximately $13,000.  State law requires political subdivisions to keep disbursements within amounts budgeted or adopt a resolution setting forth the budget increase and the facts and reasons for such.   

The Board of Aldermen does not review and approve the payment of city expenditures prior to the disbursements being made. In addition, supporting documentation was not maintained  for some disbursements.   

The city received federal assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice under the COPS FAST program to increase the number of law enforcement officers.   The City Clerk is responsible for filing quarterly report/reimbursement request for the COPS FAST program.  The City Clerk calculated the amounts for reimbursement; however, she did not retain documentation of her calculations or copies of the reports. 

The City Collector does not prepare monthly or annual reports of tax collections and delinquent taxes.  State law requires the City Collector to make annual reports of tax collections and delinquent taxes.   

The minutes of the meetings of the Board of Aldermen did not contain some information required  by statute.  There were numerous instances where the minutes indicated a motion had passed, but did not indicate the number of votes for and against.  Also, the board regularly conducts closed meetings. Minutes were not prepared to document the matters discussed in closed meetings, and board minutes did not always indicate the reasons for closing the meetings.   

The duties of receiving, recording, and depositing court receipts are not adequately segregated.  The City/Court Clerk performs all the duties related to the collection, deposit, and recording of fines, court costs, and bonds.  Receipt slips are not issued for some monies received by mail.  The composition of receipt slips issued is not reconciled to bank deposits.  Also, various records related to the receipt of court monies could not be located for the period reviewed.  In addition, data related to tickets issued was deleted from the computer without copies of the information being retained.   

There is no independent oversight or adequate segregation of duties related to the city’s utility system.  The Utilities Secretary performs all functions related to generating monthly utility bills, receipting, recording, and depositing utility payments, and making credit adjustments.   

The city has not prepared and maintained permanent, detailed property records for general fixed assets, including the cost of land, buildings, equipment, and furniture owned by the city.  In addition, it has not prepared and maintained permanent, detailed property records for the water and sewer system.  Also, annual physical inventories are not performed.