Report No. 2007-03

February 2007

Missouri currently has 244 special road districts within 57 counties. The primary duty of special road districts is to maintain approximately 9,100 miles of county roads located within their boundaries.  Our audit of special road district financial reporting practices noted the following problems.

The financial reporting practices of Missouri's special road districts need improvement and there is an overall lack of accountability over the road district operations.  The special road districts received approximately $34.8 million and $32.7 million in total revenues during 2005 and 2004, respectively.  Revenue amounts vary significantly among the districts and ranged from approximately $900 to $2 million. Our review noted many special road districts are not filing financial reports with the State Auditor's Office as required by state law, and some financial reports filed were incomplete and did not provide sufficiently detailed information.

Most counties provide financial assistance to the special road districts; however, many do so without benefit of a written agreement.  Monitoring procedures reported by counties were inconsistent and a few counties provided no information regarding monitoring procedures or indicated no procedures were in place for the period reviewed.  State agencies provide little, if any, monitoring of special road district financial activity, and special road districts are not required to obtain independent audits.

Counties have different methods for assessing permanent road levies and distributing the property tax monies generated from those levies, even though the same statutory provisions are in existence.

The Missouri General Assembly should review the laws pertaining to special road district financial reporting practices.  Consideration should be given to strengthening the reporting requirements and rectifying inconsistencies between types of special road districts.  Applicable county and state officials should improve monitoring and assistance to help improve the districts' financial reporting and accountability.

Complete Audit Report