YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

September 27, 2001

Report No. 2001-102

IMPORTANT:� The Missouri State Auditor is required by Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like Ray, 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 Ray County was a financial and compliance audit of various county operating funds. 

�        Child Support Enforcement (Title IV-D) reimbursements claimed by the Prosecuting Attorney were inaccurate and unreasonable.� Operating costs claimed for reimbursement in July and August 1999 exceeded actual payments by approximately $4,300 and $4,350 for telephone service and utilities, respectively� during those months.� In addition, the percentages of time spent on IV-D activities were overstated, causing reimbursements for operating costs to be higher than allowed.� For March and May 2000, the Prosecuting Attorney reported spending only six hours performing non IV-D duties. These hours appear low in comparison to time reported as spent on IV-D activities.� As a result of these various concerns, total questioned costs related to the Title IV-D program were $10,023. 

�        The budget documents prepared by the County Clerk for years ended December 31, 2001, 2000, and 1999, contained numerous inaccuracies and misclassifications, resulting in unreliable information about the county�s finances.�

�        The County Commission authorized expenditures totaling $71,200 from the Special Road and Bridge Fund for the purchase of sheriff patrol cars.� State law provides that Special Road and Bridge funds are restricted for �road and bridge purposes and for no other purpose whatever.� 

�        The county does not have a procedure in place to track federal assistance for preparation of the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards.� For the years ended December 31, 2000 and 1999, the county�s schedule did not include expenditures related to the majority of its federal grants. 

�        The county incurred engineering costs of $59,015 related to the county bridge project and $36,600 related to two Federal Emergency Management Agency projects without considering other engineering firms.� In addition, the county claimed and received $2,920 in reimbursement for engineering costs which was not disbursed. 

�        Planning and Zoning permit fees were not transmitted to the County Treasurer from October 2000 through April 2001. A cash count found almost $13,000 was on hand with checks totaling over $4,000 having been kept at the home of the Planning and Zoning Clerk.� Two permit fees, totaling $180 were not shown on a transmittal report as ever being sent to the County Treasurer. 

• A state law, Section 50.333.13, RSMo, enacted in 1997, allowed salary commissions meeting in 1997 to provide mid-term salary increases for associate county commissioners elected in 1996 due to the fact that their terms were increased from two years to four.� Based on this law, in 1999 Ray County�s Associate County Commissioners salaries were each increased approximately $7,000 yearly, according to the County Clerk.

On May 15, 2001, the Missouri Supreme Court handed down an opinion that holds that all raises given pursuant to this statute section are unconstitutional.� Based on the Supreme Court decision, the raises given to each of the Associate County Commissioners, totaling approximately $14,000 for the two years ended December 31, 2000, should be repaid. 

• Prosecuting Attorney employees were paid $4,650 for unused vacation and sick leave from 1999, while they were not paid for approximately 1,500 hours of overtime reported.� It is unclear whether these employees should be exempt from the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The audit also includes some matters related to budgeting, bidding, county travel policies, subrecipient monitoring, closed meeting minutes, property records, and restricted funds control, upon which the county should consider and take appropriate corrective action.� 

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