Report No. 2008-31
May 2008
Complete Audit Report

IMPORTANT: The Missouri State Auditor is required by state law to conduct audits once every four years in counties, such as Henry, that do not have a county auditor. In addition to a financial 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 the Missouri Constitution.

The county does not have adequate procedures in place to track federal awards for the preparation of the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA), and as result, the county's SEFA contained several errors and omissions. Expenditures were overstated by $204,024 and $123,568 for the years ended December 31, 2006 and 2005, respectively.

The county was awarded an Edward Byrne Memorial Formula Grant to fund expenses of the West Central Drug Task Force and for other law enforcement purposes. Adequate documentation was not retained to support payroll expenditures totaling $70,420 that were reimbursed from the grant. In addition, adequate documentation was not maintained to support fuel used by vehicles of the West Central Drug Task Force and Sheriff's office totaling $ 16,164 that was reimbursed through the grant.

The county did not always solicit bids nor was bid documentation always retained for various purchases. Adequate supporting documentation was not retained for some credit card purchases. State expense reimbursements were not always claimed timely, and the county did not always enter into formal contracts.

Budgets were not prepared for some funds, and actual disbursements exceeded budgeted amounts for several funds. The county has been significantly overestimating the amounts budgeted for Road and Bridge fund expenditures, and the purpose of numerous transfers made between funds by the Sheriff was unclear and was not always documented.

An adequate review of employee timesheets was not always performed by the County Clerk's office or the supervisory official, and as a result, numerous errors went unidentified. Centralized records of vacation leave, sick leave or compensatory time earned, taken, or accumulated are not maintained, and leave records maintained by each office were not always accurate. Several instances were identified where compensatory time (overtime) earned was not being calculated in accordance with the county's personnel policy.

Controls and procedures over the Sheriff's inmate and commissary funds need improvement. Supporting documentation was not retained for $1,698 of cash ATM withdrawals, numerous purchases made from the inmate and commissary account do not appear to be prudent or necessary uses of public or inmate funds, and a system for tracking the profit and loss from the sales of commissary has not been established. Overall bank reconciliation procedures are lacking.

Procedures have not been established by the Sheriff to track the costs of conducting carry concealment classes. Monies received by the Sheriff's office are not deposited intact or in a timely manner. The reconciled bank balance of the Sheriff's fee account was negative at December 31, 2006 and did not agree to the related liabilities listing maintained, resulting in a shortage of $2,800. The Sheriff also lacked supporting documentation for several disbursements under his control. In addition, controls over seized property are in need of improvement.

The Ex-Officio County Collector did not include all activity on her annual settlement, and did not distribute protested taxes in a timely manner. The Ex-Officio County Collector did not correctly calculate and distribute delinquent tax and surtax commissions, and Proposition C ratios were not used to calculate the county's assessment withholdings on delinquent taxes.

Because the Health Center board did not adequately monitor the financial condition of the health center, it was not determined that various accounting records of the health center were inaccurate (including the 2006 and 2005 budgets) and numerous recording errors went undetected or un-reviewed. The health center did not effectively monitor the balances of its bank accounts and issued checks when sufficient funds were not available, resulting in $125 in overdraft charges. Expenditures exceeded budgeted amounts prior to preparation of a budget amendment.

The Health Center purchased its property and employee health insurance through a firm owned by one of its board members, and also paid the board member for grounds keeping services, which created the appearance of a conflict of interest. The health center did not adequately review the design of an RV for use as a mobile dental unit or estimate the total cost of the project to ensure it was feasible prior to entering into a purchasing contract. A vendor was overpaid because the health center does not adequately reconcile monthly vendor statements with the related vendor invoices. Other concerns with the health center included improvements needed in payroll and board minute procedures.

Also included in the report are recommendations related to county expenditures, financial statements, road maintenance plans and public access policy, the County Assessor's contract, county property records, fuel records and passport fees. The audit also suggested improvements in the procedures of the Sheriff, Public Administrator, Circuit Clerk, Juvenile Office, Prosecuting Attorney, Recorder of Deeds, County Clerk, County Assessor, Health Center Board, and Senior Citizens Service Board.

Complete Audit Report
Missouri State Auditor's Office
moaudit@auditor.mo.gov