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YELLOW SHEET
Office of the State Auditor of Missouri
Claire McCaskill
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July 15, 2003
Report No.
2003-69
IMPORTANT:� The Missouri State Auditor is required by
Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like
Schuyler, which do not have a county auditor.�
However, to assist such counties in meeting federal audit requirements,
the State Auditor will also provide 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 it 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 Schuyler County included additional areas of county operations, as
well as the elected county officials.�
The following concerns were noted as part of the audit:
- The Schedule of
Expenditures of Federal Awards prepared by the county was not complete or
accurate.� In addition, the county
did not establish cash management procedures to ensure the minimum time
elapsed between receipt of federal grant monies for a bridge project and
the distribution of such monies to the contractors, as required by the
grant program.� We noted seven reimbursements
totaling $55,574 which were received and held from 10 to 18 days before
the related payment was made to the contractor.
- 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 Schuyler County's Associate County
Commissioners' salaries were each increased approximately $2,686 yearly,
according to information from 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 $5,372 for the two years ended December
31, 2000, should be repaid.
- The County Treasurer's
salary was increased $5,731 annually, effective with the start of a new
term of office on January 1, 2003, based on approval given by the salary
commission at a meeting held in October 2002.� There was no legal documentation
supporting whether that meeting complied with Section 50.333, RSMo 2000.
- The county's budgets
and published financial statements for the two years ended December 31,
2002 excluded some cash, receipts, and disbursements amounts such as
interest totaling approximately $23,000 earned on certificates of deposits
for several funds, an advance of $1,000 on a Community Development Block
Grant, and $9,870 received from a Federal Emergency Management Agency
grant which was subsequently passed through to a Special Road District.
- The county had not
adopted formal policies and procedures over the sale of rock and culverts to
the public and other governmental entities.� A bill of sale may not always have been
prepared by the County Clerk or County Treasurer for each sale and a bill
of sale/receipt was not required to pick up materials from the Road and
Bridge Department.� These sales
totaled approximately $26,000 during the two years ended December 31,
2002.
The
audit also suggested improvements to procedures over the handling of Road and
Bridge Department invoices, inventory records of construction materials and
fuel, county bidding and contracting practices, and fixed assets. In addition,
the audit recommended the Schuyler County Senior Citizens Service Board enter
into, and monitor, contracts with entities to which it provides funding.� The audit also recommended the Schuyler
County Health Center Board not authorize expenditures in excess of budgeted
amounts.
Complete Audit Report
Missouri State Auditor's Office
moaudit@auditor.mo.gov