YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

 

September 27, 2001

Report No. 2001-100

IMPORTANT:� The Missouri State Auditor is required by Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like Lewis, which do not have a county auditor.� However, to assist such counties in meeting federal audit requirements, the State Auditor will also perform a financial and compliance audit of various county operating funds every two years.� This voluntary service to Missouri counties can only be provided when state auditing resources are available and does not interfere with the State Auditor�s constitutional responsibility of auditing state government. 

Once every four years, the State Auditor�s statutory audit will cover additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials,� as required by Missouri�s Constitution.��

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This audit of Lewis County included additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials.� The following concerns were noted as part of the audit: 

• A state law, Section 50.333.13, RSMo, enacted in 1997, allowed salary commissions meeting in 1997 to provide mid-term salary increases for associate county commissioners elected in 1996 due to the fact that their terms were increased from two years to four.� Based on this law, in 1999 Lewis County�s Associate County Commissioners salaries were each increased approximately $5,440 yearly.

On May 15, 2001, the Missouri Supreme Court handed down an opinion that holds that all raises given pursuant to this statute section are unconstitutional.� Based on the Supreme Court decision, the raises given to each of the Associate County Commissioners, totaling approximately $10,880 for the two years ended December 31, 2000, should be repaid. 

• As noted in three prior reports, the County Collector does not perform monthly reconciliations between the bank balance and the monthly statement of collections and other monies which were undistributed.� There has been very little action by the County Collector to remedy the condition or implement the prior recommendations.

• The Public Administrator does not perform monthly bank reconciliations.� In addition, several instances were noted where amounts due for services or products received by wards were not paid timely by the Public Administrator.� Funds were available to pay these bills when they were due.

Also included in the audit are recommendations to improve the county�s budgetary practices and published financial statements.� In addition, the audit recommended improvements in the accounting controls and procedures of the Prosecuting Attorney, Sheriff and the Health Center.�� Several of these issues had been noted in prior audits.

Complete Audit Report

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Missouri State Auditor's Office
moaudit@mail.auditor.state.mo.us
Webmaster: auditor@mail.auditor.state.mo.us

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