YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

The village has not clearly established any of its assessments as a tax or a user fee.� The village has not established a statement of costs to adequately set rates for providing water and trash services to the village customers and revenues generated by the maintenance fee far exceed the village�s annual expenses.� The village also assesses a building permit fee for all new construction although the village does not have a building inspector or any other related costs.� The village should request that its attorney review these fees to determine whether they are or can be structured as user fees, or whether they should be put to a public vote.� 

The village does not separately account for the activities related to its various assessments. All financial activity is accounted for in one fund.� A General Fund should be used to account for the general activities� and other operations should be accounted for separately to ensure that charges do not exceed the costs of providing the service.� In addition, late fees charged by the village appear to be excessive and should be reviewed for reasonableness.� 

In 1995, the Village of Arrow Point brought suit against former board chairman Bill Crouch for conflicts of interest noted in a prior audit.� A counter suit was filed by Mr. Crouch requesting $4,245 along with interest and legal fees.� In 1998, a different board than the one that brought the suit dismissed it and made a $10,000 payment to Mr. Crouch.� The board did not obtain any written legal opinion to support their actions nor did they document their reasons for dismissing the suit.� The payment represents a significant village expenditure considering total receipts for the village in that year were approximately $11,400. 

The village did not prepare a budget until 2001.� The 2001 budget was not properly prepared and formally approved as required by state law.� Closed meetings were apparently not always conducted in accordance with state law and board minutes have not always been adequately maintained.� 

Accounting duties are not adequately segregated, as only one official handles the accounting records.�

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