Report No. 2009-97
September 2009
Complete Audit Report

The following findings were included in our audit report of Scotland County.

The County Clerk does not prepare minutes for closed session meetings of the County Commission and no notice or agenda was posted for one closed session meeting. As discussed in prior audits, the County Commission open meeting minutes do not always include sufficient detail of matters discussed or actions taken, and it appears many motions passed are not included in the meeting minutes.

The county does not reconcile fuel use to fuel purchases, and records are not maintained of fuel used for some county vehicles. In addition, mileage logs that include the purpose and destination of each trip and beginning and ending odometer readings are not maintained by the road and bridge department to document the use of county-owned vehicles.

The County Clerk does not prepare or verify the accuracy of the current or delinquent tax books, which are prepared by the County Collector.

User identifications and passwords are not used in the County Clerk's and County Collector's offices, and passwords are not periodically changed in the County Assessor's office. Backup data is not always stored at a secure off-site location and is not always tested to help prevent loss of information and ensure all essential county information and computer systems can be recovered following a disaster or computer failure.

In the Sheriff's office, monthly bank reconciliations are not performed and deposits are not made timely. The method of payment is not consistently indicated on receipt slips, and as a result, the composition of receipt slips issued cannot be reconciled to the composition of deposits. The costs for housing other counties' inmates at the county jail were not analyzed to determine if amounts charged adequately recover all costs. The Sheriff has verbal agreements with other counties for the boarding of inmates; however, Section 432.070, RSMo, requires all contracts be in writing. In addition, the Sheriff's office maintains a change fund of $100 for bond receipts; however, the fund has not been used since at least 2001.

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