Report No. 2011-68
September 2011
Complete Report
Findings in the audit of Monroe County

Property Tax System Controls and Procedures
As noted in our five prior audit reports, controls and procedures over the property tax system need improvement to ensure property tax monies are accounted for properly. Neither the County Commission nor the County Clerk adequately reviews property tax additions and abatements or the property tax collection activities of the County Collector. State law assigns the County Clerk the duty to make tax book corrections and to extend the current and back tax books and charge the County Collector with the amount of taxes to be collected. Instead, the County Assessor enters additions and abatements, and the County Collector prepares the current and back tax books. The County Clerk does not document any review of the tax rates entered and does not reconcile her account book with the County Collector's settlements.

Fuel Use
The county lacks adequate procedures for monitoring the use of its bulk fuel tanks.

Computer Controls
Controls over the county computer systems need to be improved to prevent unauthorized access and restore key systems in the event of a disaster. Passwords should be changed periodically, user identifications should be required to log on to computers, backups should be tested regularly, and the County Recorder and Sheriff should store backups at off-site locations.

Closed Meetings
The County Commission failed to comply with the Sunshine Law. It did not maintain minutes of several closed sessions or document the reasons for entering into three closed sessions on April 9, 2010.

Payroll Controls and Procedures
Personnel policies are not followed. The road and bridge department used sick leave time to calculate employees' compensatory (overtime) balances and allowed employees to accumulate balances in excess of the Fair Labor Standards Act limit. In addition, employees are allowed to use unearned sick leave and carry forward unused vacation time from the prior year which is not in compliance with the county leave policies. Although state law requires a meeting each odd-numbered year, the Monroe County Salary Commission has not met since 2005, and the salary schedule established may no longer comply with state law.

Public Administrator's Controls and Procedures
As noted in our prior audit, the Public Administrator did not file complete, accurate, and timely annual settlements, and the Probate Court did not adequately monitor her activities. The Public Administrator could not explain the amounts charged estates, and we found three wards were overcharged a total of $598 and one ward was undercharged $185. Estate fees were not consistently paid because the estates did not have enough funds and the amounts not paid were not tracked.

Senate Bill 40 Board
The Senate Bill 40 Board lacked adequate documentation for 90 percent of its disbursements of Targeted Case Management funds. As noted in our prior audit report, the board failed to file formal budgets with the State Auditor's office, its budgets did not meet legal requirements, and financial statements were not published.

Prosecuting Attorney's Controls and Procedures
As noted in our prior audit reports, the Prosecuting Attorney's office needs to improve its accounting controls and procedures. Accounting duties are not adequately segregated, receipt slips are not issued for monies received, money orders are not restrictively endorsed immediately, and monies are not always properly recorded on the receipt logs. We identified $658 in restitution receipts which had not been recorded on the log. Monthly bank reconciliations are not performed, and the account contains a fluctuating amount of unidentified monies. Five checks totaling $475 have been outstanding for more than a year, and restitution receipts are not always deposited and disbursed in a timely manner.

Sheriff's Controls and Procedures
Accounting duties are not adequately segregated, receipt slips are not issued for civil fees collected, and the log does not reflect the method of payment (cash, check or money order). Fuel purchases are not adequately recorded and monitored. The Sheriff's department deposited concealed weapon permit fees in the Sheriff's Civil Fees Fund, but state law requires the fees be deposited into a Sheriff Revolving Fund and restricts how they can be spent.

Additional Comments
Because counties are managed by several separately-elected individuals, an audit finding made with respect to one office does not necessarily apply to the operations in another office. The overall rating assigned to the county is intended to reflect the performance of the county as a whole. It does not indicate the performance of any one elected official or county office.

In the areas audited, the overall performance of this entity was Fair.* However, the audit revealed serious shortcomings with the Property Tax System Controls and Procedures.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009 (Federal Stimulus)
A $10,000 Recovery Act: Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant was received and spent by the Sheriff's department to purchase emergency lighting equipment for seven patrol vehicles.

The Monroe County Senate Bill 40 Board received a $12,336 Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage grant.

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