YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

April 8, 2003

Report No. 2003-33

The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Department of Public Safety, Missouri Veterans Commission, St. Louis Veterans' Home.

The Assistance League is a not-for-profit organization which actively seeks monetary donations throughout the St. Louis area to benefit residents of the St. Louis Veterans' Home.  Donations, as well as proceeds from canteen and vending machines, are collected daily.  The Assistance League does not monitor canteen operations by periodically calculating the net profit or loss of the canteen. The Assistance League also does not have a formal bidding policy and bids were either not solicited or bid documentation was not retained for some purchases.  In addition, proper authorization was not documented for some items purchased, including a television, radios, and carpet installation.

Some state paid employees at the facility spend up to 80 percent of their workweek performing job duties for the Assistance League, including collecting donations, scheduling volunteers to work in the canteen, maintaining and accounting for the canteen's inventory, and providing tours of the Veterans' Home to organizations that contribute to the league.  The salary of each employee varies but the estimated annual cost associated with the duties performed by the three state employees to accomplish the assistance league duties is approximately $42,000.  Allowing state paid employees to perform duties associated with the Assistance League, a not-for-profit organization, appears to be a violation of the Missouri Constitution.

The facility receives money on behalf of residents from various resources and deposits it into the Residents' Cash Fund account.  These monies are used for residents' monthly payments for room and board.  Personal spending money of the residents can also be deposited into this account.  Prenumbered receipt slips are not issued for some monies received.  A cash count disclosed cash on hand totaling approximately $139,800 for the residents' account which indicated a need for more timely deposits.  In addition, the facility has not established procedures to follow up on checks that are outstanding for a considerable length of time.  Some checks had been outstanding for as long as seven years.

Also included in the audit are recommendations related to state-owned vehicles, cellular telephone policies, payroll policies and procedures, and fixed assets. 

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