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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
May 14, 2003
Report No. 2003-43
The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Department of Agriculture, State Milk Board.
The Milk Inspection Fees Fund was established to receive fees collected from milk producers.� The monies collected are used for inspection and compliance monitoring expenses, including payments to local health departments that contract with the State Milk Board to perform these services.� Beginning in fiscal year 1995, the contracts provided for additional payments from a General Revenue Fund-State appropriation.� The State Milk Board made payments totaling approximately $1,254,000 and $1,339,000 to the local health departments during the years ended June 30, 2002 and 2001, respectively.
The Springfield and St. Louis health departments were paid approximately $58,000 and $61,000 more than the amounts allowed by the contract during the years ended June 30, 2002 and 2001, respectively.� The State Milk Board erroneously paid the local health departments at a rate that differed from the rate provided for in the contracts.� Payments during July 2002 through September 2002 also exceeded the rate, but adjustments have been made.
It was also noted that the local health departments were paid approximately $86,000 and $128,000 more than the limit set by statute during the years ended June 30, 2002 and 2001, respectively.� The total amounts paid to the contract agencies exceeded the statutory limit due to the payments from the General Revenue Fund-State appropriation. State law limits the total payment to each health department to five cents per one hundred pounds of milk or milk products.� By limiting payments to the contract agencies to the statutory maximum, the State Milk Board could reduce its expenditures from the General Revenue Fund-State.
This concern has also been noted in prior reports.
