Report No. 2010-108
September 2010
Complete Audit Report

Findings in the audit of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, City of Randolph Municipal Division

Monitoring of Excess Revenue
The municipal division and the city do not have procedures in place to track tickets issued on state and federal highways and the related finds and costs collected, to determine the excess revenues to be distributed to the Missouri Department of Revenue. State law requires municipalities deriving more than 35 percent of their annual general operating revenue from fines and court costs for traffic violations occurring on a state or federal highway to turn the excess over to the Department of Revenue for distribution to schools of the county.

Accounting Controls and Procedures
The Municipal Court Clerk resigned in August 2009, and the city operated approximately 5 months without a Court Clerk. Many control procedures were not in place during this period and numerous duties were not performed. The duties of receiving and depositing monies are not adequately segregated from recording transactions. Monies are not always receipted, recorded on the bond log, and deposited timely, and checks are not restrictively endorsed immediately upon receipt. Bank reconciliations are not prepared timely for either the fine and costs account or bond account. In addition, an unidentified balance of $4,970 exists in the fine and costs account at April 30, 2010, and an open items list is not prepared for the bond account. Procedures for processing and collecting monies due on tickets where the defendant fails to appear in court do not exist. The composition of receipt slips issued is not reconciled to the composition of bank deposits, and the numerical sequence of receipt slips issued is not accounted for properly. A monthly list of all cases heard is not prepared and filed with the city.

Bonds
While bond forms are prenumbered and are posted to a bond log maintained by the police department, their numerical sequence is not accounted for adequately. There are no controls over the custody of the bond monies to ensure they are processed properly. Bond forfeitures have not been performed for bonds posted by defendants who fail to appear in court. While the municipal division has an established bond schedule for certain violations, numerous defendants are released from custody without posting the proper bond and these variances are not approved by the Municipal Judge.

Ticket Accountability
The municipal division and Police Department do not account for the numerical sequence of tickets issued. The Police Department tracks the ticket numbers assigned to each officer, but does not keep records of tickets issued. The municipal division was unable to locate 23 of 60 (38 percent) tickets tested.

Prosecutor Signature
The Prosecuting Attorney does not sign all tickets processed by the municipal division. Without the signature of the Prosecuting Attorney it is unclear whether or not the tickets processed by the municipal division are valid.

Complete Audit Report
Missouri State Auditor's Office
moaudit@auditor.mo.gov