06/06/2017
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway today released a report on government operations in Webster County. The audit found improvements after a former assistant to the county clerk was ordered to repay nearly $18,000 that had been inappropriately spent on personal purchases using a county-issued credit card.
"After a previous audit described the factors that allowed fraudulent activity to continue undiscovered for years, Webster county officials committed to establishing safeguards to protect taxpayer dollars," Auditor Galloway said. "I commend the county on the progress that has been made and encourage them to continue their efforts to restore the public's faith in their local government."
The 2014 report calculated the total amount stolen by a former assistant to the county clerk. Billy Breitenstein used a county-issued credit card to make $17,676 in personal purchases over a series of years. In November of 2016, Breitenstein took a plea deal and was ordered to repay the money and serve five years of probation.
The county has made significant improvements to oversight in the county clerk's office, and has corrected issues in numerous other county offices. Today's report makes recommendations for improvement in the county collector's office, where miscalculations resulted in incorrect amounts being withheld from tax collections. The audit also found more could be done to protect sensitive data maintained by county offices and recommended increasing checks and balances over certain accounting duties.
A complete copy of the Webster County audit report is available here.
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