YELLOW SHEET
Office of the State Auditor of Missouri
Claire McCaskill
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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
December 20, 2002
Report No. 2002-119
The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Department of Mental Health, St. Louis Developmental Disabilities Treatment Centers.
St. Louis Developmental Disabilities Treatment Centers (SLDDTC) client monies, such as income and benefits, are either directly deposited or received by SLDDTC personnel and transmitted to the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center for deposit into a fiduciary checking account.� All client transactions and balances are maintained on the Non-Appropriated Funds System (NAFS). Our audit noted the following concerns:
Furthermore, the NAFS contains numerous duplicative and obsolete SLDDTC facility funds.� Aside from client monies, the NAFS includes facility funds such as commissions from vending, revenues from fund raisers, and other miscellaneous funds.� There were more than 70 facility funds established for the SLDDTC, some of which were inactive, maintained for facilities or operations that no longer existed, or held monies that had not been disbursed in a timely manner.
Operating procedures for the canteens at some facilities were inadequate.� Canteen receipts were not always deposited/transmitted intact on a timely basis.� Also, some facility personnel did not maintain adequate records of canteen sales receipts.� Therefore, we could not determine if sales agreed to the amount transmitted for deposit.
The facilities do not adequately monitor canteen operations and related financial activity or results.� For example, a report dated April 30, 2002, indicated a deficit balance in the St. Charles Habilitation Center canteen fund of $1,907.� Operating losses occur when sufficient revenue is not generated to cover the costs of items purchased for resale.� Adequate monitoring is necessary to detect and correct problems contributing to operating losses.� These problems could include an inadequate pricing system for items sold or changes to inventories as a result of activities other than sales.
The procedures and records relating to the SLDDTC revolving fund are inadequate.� The Department of Mental Health (DMH) issued a policy in 1998, outlining procedures for the use and maintenance of an institutional fund.� This fund was established at $4,000 and is maintained by the SLDDTC Administrative Office.� Our review noted the following concerns:
� Monthly bank reconciliations are not performed on the revolving fund.
� Accurate records of cash transactions are not maintained for revolving fund transactions.
Procedures for tracking employees' time worked and leave balances are inadequate and do not allow personnel to detect errors.� Compensatory balances are not adequately monitored.� A significant number of employees have been allowed to accrue compensatory leave in excess of the maximum allowed.� A SLDDTC policy limits the combined accruals of holiday and compensatory time to 40 hours per employee.� A review of a leave balance report for the year ended June 30, 2001, revealed that more than 270 employees' balances exceeded 40 hours.� During June 2002, the DMH reduced employee compensatory and holiday leave balances by paying employees for leave balances in excess of 85 hours.� However, the 85 hour balance still exceeds the accruals allowed by SLDDTC policy.
The SLDDTC has approximately 51 state-owned vehicles that are primarily used by the habilitation centers, community residences, and administration building personnel.� These vehicles are used by employees for business travel and providing assistance to clients.� We noted vehicle logs were not maintained for 20 percent of the vehicles reviewed.� Additionally, 40 percent of the� vehicles reviewed were driven less than 5,000 miles in a� year.� Low mileage can often indicate that a facility has too many vehicles or that a facility does not efficiently utilize vehicles.� During the year ended June 30, 2002, the SLDDTC expended approximately $24,600 to reimburse employees for instate mileage costs.