YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2005-04

February 2005

IMPORTANT:  The Missouri State Auditor is required by state law to conduct audits once every 4 years in counties, like Caldwell, that do not have a county auditor.  In addition to a financial and compliance audit of various county operating funds, the State Auditor's statutory audit covers additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials, as required by Missouri's Constitution.

This audit of Caldwell 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 County Clerk does not maintain a ledger of revenues, expenditures, and fund balances which could be reconciled to the County Treasurer's records.  The County Clerk is not properly completing the cash reconciliations on the budgets, failed to include certificates of deposits in the available resources, and did not ensure budgets were prepared for numerous county funds.

• The county did not adequately track or report federal assistance on the schedule of expenditures of federal awards (SEFA).  The county's SEFA did not include one of their major programs and expenditures for the other two major programs were not reported correctly in 2003. 

• The county did not ensure prevailing wages were paid to all detention center laborers, as required by the Davis-Bacon Act.

• The General Revenue Fund's poor financial condition has continued since 1998.  The County Commission needs to take into consideration the additional liabilities that resulted from errors which have been noted in the past and current audits.  The county exceeded the allowable transfer by $15,670 and $4,408 from the Special Road and Bridge Fund and the Special Road and Bridge Sales Tax Fund, respectively, to the General Revenue Fund during the two years ended December 31, 2003.  In addition, the county has collected $24,709 in excess General Revenue property taxes at December 31, 2003.

• The county's annual published financial statements did not include the financial activity for most of the county funds.  In addition, expenditures were made in excess of budgeted amounts for several funds.

• Elected officials salaries were not set consistent with the salary commission decisions, and the County Clerk does not maintain centralized compensatory time records for each employee.  The county also does not maintain documentation to support the amount of salary reimbursed by the Multi-County (ACCD 911) System or Special Road and Bridge, nor do they maintain detailed timesheets for the employees.  In addition, the Sheriff's department is not following the county's policy for awarding compensatory time or overtime to emergency service employees.

• The County Commission is not adequately monitoring the use of monies from the $200,000 Outdoor Recreation Grant.  The county does not maintain documentation of how the county is meeting the fifty percent matching requirements for the grant, or maintain invoices, bids, and contracts related to the park grant.  In addition, the county paid $70 per hour to a park grant administrator, but the invoices submitted by the administrator, totaling $12,745, did not include detail of the tasks performed or the dates the services were provided.

• Property tax assessment data can be accessed by the County Assessor during periods when changes to the data are not allowed by statute.  The County Clerk does not maintain an account book with the Ex Officio Collector nor does she review the computer delinquent tax book for accuracy.  The County Commission does not review or approve the Ex Officio Collector's annual settlement as required by law, controls over tax book additions and abatements are not sufficient, and the various officials do not maintain confidential passwords to the property tax system.  Additionally, the County Clerk does not ensure that township collectors turn in signed receipts from the various political subdivisions to document that the monies were properly distributed.

• The county does not adequately monitor townships use of County Aid Road Trust (CART) monies, some township collectors were under bonded, and the county did not ensure township road boards' financial statements were prepared and published as required by law.

The audit also included recommendations related to expenditures, general capital assets, and planning and zoning.  Additional recommendations were made to improve the records and/or procedures of the County Treasurer, Health Center, Circuit Clerk, Sheriff, Prosecuting Attorney, and County Clerk.

Complete Audit Report