YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

February 06, 2003

Report No. 2003-11

IMPORTANT:  The Missouri State Auditor is required by Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like Reynolds, 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 Reynolds County included additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials.  The following concerns were noted as part of the audit:

• Formal budgets were not prepared for some county funds and disbursements were made in excess of approved budgets for various funds.  Additionally, the county's annual published financial statements did not include the financial activity of some funds.
  
  
• 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 Reynolds County's Associate County Commissioners' salaries were each increased approximately $7,110 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 $14,220 for the two years ended December 31, 2000, should be repaid.  In addition, one official was given a raise during their term of office without adequate documentation supporting the increase.

• Records of vacation leave, sick leave, and compensatory time balances are not centrally maintained.  Some time sheets prepared are not indicating actual hours worked.
  
  
• Mileage reimbursements requests were not adequate.  The county is overpaying its share of the juvenile office expenditures.  Uniform allowances are not reported on the employees W-2 forms.
  
  
• Several weaknesses were identified in the offices of the Assessor, Prosecuting Attorney, and the Sheriff, including inadequate segregation of duties, inadequate receipting procedures, and receipts not deposited or transmitted on a timely basis.

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