Report No. 2007-77
December 2007

Complete Audit Report

An audit was conducted by our office of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, city of Auxvasse, Missouri Municipal Division.

The city of Auxvasse Municipal Division is within the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, which consists of Boone and Callaway counties. The Honorable Gene Hamilton serves as Presiding Judge.

The former City Clerk/Court Clerk commingled court monies with city funds. Receipts totaling at least $1,500 were recorded in the city’s water, sewer, and trash billing system for January 2006 but were not recorded on the city’s cash receipt ledger and deposited. In addition, some monies were deposited to the wrong account and other monies were not properly recorded and deposited. The amount of cash included with some court deposits was less than the recorded cash collections on the court’s receipt records. Some city receipts were not recorded, but were deposited and apparently substituted for recorded court receipts. The former City Clerk/Court Clerk was terminated in September 2006. Commingling city and court funds, not depositing intact and timely, the lack of an independent review of the City Clerk/Court Clerk’s work, and other internal control weaknesses allowed some misappropriations to occur and not be detected.

Duties are not adequately segregated. Also, a ledger or listing of bonds received and disbursed is not maintained, and a listing of open items is not prepared periodically and reconciled to the book balance. A control ledger showing the total amounts owed by defendants is not maintained.

The schedule of fines and court costs to be collected did not include all applicable offenses and included incorrect information for seat belt violations. In addition, some Crime Victim’s Compensation and Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission fees are not turned over to the state monthly. Finally, Judicial Education Fund monies are not accounted for properly.

The Municipal Division and the Police Department do not adequately account for the numerical sequence and ultimate disposition of traffic tickets. Without a proper accounting for the numerical sequence and ultimate disposition of traffic tickets, the Municipal Division and the Police Department cannot be assured that all tickets assigned and issued are properly submitted to the division for processing.

Complete Audit Report