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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
Report No. 2004-62
August 27, 2004
IMPORTANT: The Missouri State Auditor is required by state law to conduct audits once every 4 years in counties, like Montgomery, that do not have a county auditor. In addition to a financial and compliance audit of various county operating funds, the State Auditor's statutory audit covers additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials, as required by Missouri's Constitution.
This audit of Montgomery County included additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials. The following concerns were noted as part of the audit:
The schedule of expenditures of federal awards did not accurately report expenditures of some federal programs. Total federal expenditures were understated by approximately $45,000 and $30,000 for 2003 and 2002, respectively.
The county incurred engineering costs of $27,048 for a federal bridge project during the two years ended December 31, 2003. There was no documentation that the County Commission considered other engineering firms when procuring engineering services for this project, as required by state law.
Actual disbursements exceeded the budgeted amounts in various funds. Budgeted amounts for the General Revenue Fund were exceeded by $21,481 for the year ended December 31, 2003. Budgeted amounts for the Capital Improvements Fund were exceeded by $9,500 and $30,983, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2003 and 2002.
The county does not adequately review fuel charges and does not have a written policy on whether a road and bridge employee should be provided a vehicle at the county's expense. In addition, Sheriff department employees have been provided meals at no cost from the jail.
The public administrator's salary was set at 90 percent of the salary provided by state law to correspond with the percentage of the maximum salaries paid to other officials. There was no legal documentation supporting whether the public administrator should receive the minimum salary provided by state law or a percentage of the minimum.
The county has not established procedures to maximize interest earnings and has not entered into written agreements with some of its depositary banks.
The County Clerk made errors in calculating railroad and utility taxes distributed to the various school districts in Montgomery County during the years ended December 31, 2003 and 2002.
Several concerns were noted in the Sheriff's fee account procedures. An open-items (liabilities) listing is not prepared and reconciled to the cash balance on a monthly basis. At December 31, 2003, the reconciled cash balance was $6,242 which included $1,083 of unknown open items. The Sheriff's office uses county-owned vehicles to transport prisoners on county time. Although the county pays all costs related to transporting prisoners, the state's reimbursement check is deposited into the fee account and the mileage and per diem reimbursements are disbursed to the individuals transporting prisoners.
Several concerns were noted in the Sheriff's inmate and commissary procedures. Receipt slips are not issued immediately upon receipt, some receipts are not properly recorded in the accounting records, and receipts are not deposited timely. In some instances, the actual cash or money order received is returned to the inmate and the inmate's signature is not obtained to document the monies were returned. The Sheriff's office does not maintain a running inventory (perpetual inventory) of items purchased from vendors, items sold to inmates, and inventory balances.
Also included in the audit were recommendations to improve the county's procedures related to general fixed assets. The audit also suggested improvements in the procedures of the Associate Circuit/Probate Division and the Health Center.
