YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2006-76

December 2006

During our audit of the Twenty-First Judicial Circuit, City of Bella Villa, Missouri, Municipal Division, we identified the following problems.

During our audit of the Twenty-First Judicial Circuit, City of Bella Villa, Missouri, Municipal Division, we found monthly listings of open items (liabilities) had not been prepared since April 2006, at which time the listing was approximately $3,443 more than the reconciled bank balance.  At our request, the court generated an open items listing as of June 30, 2006, and we found the reconciled bank balance exceeded the open items listing by $63,364.  

We also noted the court held approximately $4,600 in bonds older than one year.  Also, adjustments made to bond amounts are not properly authorized or adequately documented. Of the 30 bonds reviewed, four bonds collected were for more than the court ordered amount and 15 were for less than the established amount.

A complete listing of accrued costs owed to the court is not maintained by the Municipal Division.  A comparison of the court docket, case file, and computer file for 10 cases indicated several concerns, which the Court Administrator indicated were due to computer problems the court has been experiencing since July 2006.  In addition, monies received are not transmitted to the city in a timely manner, averaging one transmittal every 13 days.

Neither the police department nor the Municipal Division have adequate procedures to account for the numerical sequence of traffic tickets and arrest notifications issued.  Additionally, the court could not locate 13 of 55 case files requested, and did not properly report some required traffic offenses to the Missouri Department of Revenue.

The audit also includes recommendations related to computer controls and the violations bureau. 

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