YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

September 24, 2002

Report No. 2002-93

IMPORTANT:� The Missouri State Auditor is required by Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like Monroe, which do not have a county auditor.� However, to assist such counties in meeting federal audit requirements, the State Auditor will also provide 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 it 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.

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

• Numerous concerns were noted with the county's payroll procedures.� Time sheets prepared by county employees did not always indicate actual hours worked.� It does not appear the county is following procedures as stated in the current personnel policy when determining overtime/compensatory time.� Centralized leave records maintained by the county did not always agree to the time sheets prepared by county employees.� Sheriff's department employees prepare multiple time sheets to document hours worked in association with various law enforcement contracts.� Instances were noted where some hours were recorded on two different time sheets and therefore paid twice.

During 2000, three county employees received additional compensation of $1,000 each for performing accounting services related to the 911 Fund. There was no indication in the payroll records that additional hours were worked and� it appears these payments represent bonuses.

• Several weaknesses were noted regarding county expenditures.� Credit card purchases made by the County Sheriff are not always adequately supported, credit card bills are not paid timely and late fees and finance charges have been incurred, and personal purchases are sometimes charged to the credit card and reimbursed by county employees.� In addition, records are not maintained to document the number of meals served to prisoners to ensure the county is paying only for meals received.� Also, when the county awards a contract to a vendor other than the lowest bidder, documentation is sometimes insufficient to support the amounts used in the justification process. 
  
  
• 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 Monroe County's Associate County Commissioners' salaries were each increased approximately $3,640 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 $7,280 for the two years ended December 31, 2000, should be repaid.� In addition, in light of the ruling, any other raises given to other officials within their term of office should be re-evaluated for propriety.

• The prior audit report addressed the inadequacy of the Public Administrator's procedures.� While the Public Administrator responded in the prior audit that recommendations would be implemented and the Associate Circuit Judge responded that additional monitoring procedures would be implemented, little improvement was noted.� This audit identified weaknesses such as untimely and incomplete settlements, inadequate documentation of expenditures and fees, untimely deposits, and bills not being paid timely.
  
  
• In January 2001, the County Treasurer transferred the Enhanced 911 Fund to the Enhanced 911 Board.� Several weaknesses were noted regarding the payroll procedures of the Enhanced 911 Board. The 911 coordinator and bookkeeper do not prepare time sheets.� The 911 coordinator sometimes performs additional duties such as working as a dispatcher or serving as a temporary office manager for the Sheriff's office.� While performing and being paid for these duties, the 911 coordinator continued to earn a full salary from the Enhanced 911 Fund. Because time sheets are not prepared to document the hours worked as coordinator, it appears the coordinator may have been paid twice for the same hours worked.

In addition, errors were made when calculating payroll and an additional check of $916 was paid to the coordinator.� Full reimbursement has not yet been obtained for this overpayment.� The board's current personnel policy does not clearly document how overtime is to be calculated and in December 2001, some bonuses were paid.

A cumulative book balance is not maintained and reconciled to the bank records.� As a result, over $20,500 in receipts were deposited into the board's checking account and never recorded on the accounting records.� Actual disbursements exceeded the budgeted amounts by $9,414 for the year ended December 31, 2001.

• Several weaknesses were identified in the Sheriff's office including inadequate segregation of duties, untimely bank reconciliations, and untimely deposits.

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