Report No. 2010-130
November 2010
Complete Audit Report
Findings in the audit of Iron County
Financial Condition
The financial condition of the General Revenue Fund is weak and is not expected to improve during the year ended December 31, 2010. General Revenue Fund disbursements have exceeded receipts in at least 3 of the last 4 years, and disbursements are projected to again exceed receipts during 2010. In response to the declining revenues, the county began drawing against a line of credit previously established with a local bank. The funds borrowed against the line of credit for the General Revenue Fund and the total outstanding balance of borrowed funds have been increasing each year. Furthermore, the county stopped making payments on a loan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the construction of the hospital. As of January 2010, the remaining loan balance was approximately $7 million. Such debts create a potential hardship for the county and contribute to the county's overall week financial condition. In addition, while the County Commission indicated it reviews quarterly reports comparing budgeted and actual receipts and disbursements for all county funds, budgeted disbursements were exceeded for multiple funds, including the General Revenue Fund.
Property Tax System
Additions and abatements, which constitute changes to the amount of taxes the County Collector is charged with collecting, are not properly monitored and errors or irregularities could go undetected. Due to software differences and limitations, the County Collector must manually update her system for any additions and abatements relating to real estate taxes; however, a comparison of changes made by the County Collector to the changes in the County Assessor's system is not performed. In addition, an independent review of changes made to the approved court orders is not performed.
County Collector's Controls and Procedures
Adequate controls and procedures were not in place to ensure the accuracy of deposits and accounting records. In addition, the County Collector does not reconcile receipts to deposits. As a result, there is no assurance all monies receipted are deposited and there could be missing monies. Furthermore, partial payments of property taxes were not always deposited intact and ledger information is not clear and cannot be easily reconciled with receipt records, deposits, or monies on hand.
Sheriff's Controls and Procedures
Cash custody and accounting duties are not adequately segregated in the Sheriff's office. The Sheriff's records for monitoring vehicle and fuel use are not sufficient. In addition, the Sheriff's office does not have adequate procedures over tracking and approving overtime. As a result, a significant number of hours were charged by the Chief Deputy, and hours charged appear unreasonable and were not always approved by the Sheriff.
Public Administrator's Controls and Procedures
The Public Administrator does not adequately monitor when annual settlements and status reports are due to the Probate Division, and the Public Administrator does not file all annual settlements and status reports in a timely manner in compliance with state law. In addition, fees charged to some wards held by the Public Administrator were not consistent and some charges were not adequately supported. The Public Administrator does not have a formal fee schedule documenting fees and criteria to consider when determining the appropriate fee to charge.
Complete Audit Report
Missouri State Auditor's Office
moaudit@auditor.mo.gov
