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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
August 24, 1999
Report No. 99-57
IMPORTANT: The Missouri State Auditor is required by Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like Henry, which do not have a county auditor. However, to assist such counties in meeting federal audit requirements, the State Auditor will also perform a financial and compliance audit of various county operating funds every two years. This voluntary service to Missouri counties can only be provided when state auditing resources are available and does not interfere with the State Auditor's constitutional responsibility of auditing state government.
Once every four years, the State Auditor's statutory audit will cover additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials, as required by Missouri's Constitution.
This audit of Henry County included additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials. The following concerns were noted as part of the audit:
As of December 31, 1998, the county had not reduced property tax revenues by $109,732 as the result of excess property tax revenues collected in prior years. By leaving the 1998 General Revenue levy at $.00 the county could have reduced excess property tax collections by approximately $72,000. However the county set the 1998 General Revenue levy at $.04 believing that going without a levy in 10 of the prior 17 years was sufficient.
Many prior audit recommendations were implemented, however the county still needs to ensure that expenditures from all county funds are necessary for county operations and are a prudent use of county monies.
Also included in the audit are recommendations to improve budgetary procedures and county fixed asset procedures and to better monitor collateral securities pledged by county banks. The audit also suggested improvements in the Juvenile Office's accounting controls.
