The Circuit Clerk has not established adequate procedures to ensure bank accounts are sufficiently collateralized. The amount of collateral securities pledged by the Circuit Clerk’s depositary banks at December 31, 2006 and 2005, were insufficient by approximately $5,903,800 and $608,300, respectively. The Circuit Division has also not established procedures to routinely follow up on old outstanding checks. At December 31, 2006, one of the court’s bank accounts had $14,374 in outstanding checks that were older than one year. In addition, an investment ledger is not maintained, a mail log is not prepared for payments received through the mail, and the Circuit Division does not account for the numerical sequence of receipt slips and checks issued.
The Circuit Division does not have adequate procedures to follow up on open items. As of April 30, 2007, the court held over $3.3 million in open items in their bank account. A detailed Open Items Report has not been printed or reviewed since September 30, 2006, to determine if any items need to be removed from the listing. Procedures have not been established to ensure credit balances on cases are disposed of on a timely basis.
State law allows the Family Court to collect a $30 fee on all cases heard by the Juvenile Division. These fees are to be deposited into the Family Services and Justice Fund and spent at the discretion of the Presiding Judge for services provided by the Family Court. The balance in the fund as of December 31, 2006, was $215,420. The Circuit Division has not made formal plans to spend monies held in the Family Services and Justice Fund. In addition, in October 2006, the Juvenile Division began paying the juvenile assessment fee to the county where it was deposited to the county's General Revenue Fund instead of the Family Services and Justice Fund, as required by state law.
During 2006 and 2005, the Sheriff's Department collected bonds totaling $704,580 and $711,250, respectively. In some cases bond monies were not disbursed on a timely basis, while at other times bonds may have been disbursed prior to being deposited. In addition, the duties of receiving, depositing, and disbursing bond monies are not adequately segregated. Also, Sheriff's Department employees do not document the individual bonds that comprise the bond deposits. The retrieval of the bond monies from the bond box is not adequately documented on the bond log, and bond monies are not picked up from the bond box in a timely manner.
Also included in the report are recommendations related to accrued costs and the law library.
Complete Audit Report |
