Report No. 2010-61
June 2010
Complete Audit Report

Findings in the audit of the Thirty-Ninth Judicial Circuit, City of Marionville Municipal Division

Accounting Controls and Procedures
Controls and procedures over receipting, transmitting, and depositing municipal division receipts are poor. Proper segregation of duties is not possible because the Court Clerk is the only municipal division employee and neither the Municipal Judge nor the other city personnel provide adequate supervision or a review of work performed by the Court Clerk. Collections of fines, costs, and bonds recorded on the municipal division computer system are not reconciled to the city's general ledger and deposits, and numerous posting errors to the system and ledger were not discovered. The Court Clerk has the ability to post adjustments to the municipal division computer system without obtaining independent approval, and adequate documentation of adjustments was not retained.

Receipt slips are not issued for some monies received, and the method of payment is not recorded on receipt slips and reconciled to the municipal division computer system or to the transmittal to the city. Additionally, receipt slips are not always issued in numerical order or accounted for properly. Receipts are not transmitted to the city intact or on a timely basis by the municipal division. The city does not issue receipt slips for monies transmitted from the municipal division, and receipts are not deposited by the city intact and on a timely basis.

Bond Liabilities and Disbursements
Procedures related to identifying and monitoring liabilities need improvement, and some errors were made in the disbursement of court costs and bonds. While a list of outstanding bonds is maintained on the municipal division computer system, the list did not agree to the balance of the city's bond bank account balance or the city's bond payable ledger. Procedures have not been established to ensure bonds have been properly applied to fines and costs, forfeited, or refunded by the city, and several errors in posting the disbursement of bonds were made in the municipal division and city computer systems. The court and city do not periodically reconcile court bond activity reports to city bond disbursements to ensure their records are in agreement. Crime Victims Compensation and Police Officer Standard Training Fund collections were not always remitted to the state in the correct amount or on a timely basis.

Accounts Receivables
Accounts receivable are not reviewed periodically, which reduces the likelihood that amounts due to the municipal division are collected. In addition, several cases reviewed had no payment plans.

Municipal Division Procedures
The final disposition of each case is not consistently documented on the court dockets and the Municipal Judge does not sign all court dockets after case dispositions are recorded. The Court Clerk is allowed to dismiss traffic ticket violations issued for no proof of insurance if the defendant provides proof of insurance. Neither the city Prosecuting Attorney nor the Municipal Judge provide adequate oversight or document their approval of this process. Warrants are issued by the Court Clerk and a facsimile of the Municipal Judge's signature is applied. The municipal division could not provide documentation that these warrants were specifically authorized by the Municipal Judge. Warrant fees and court ordered restitution are not properly tracked by the municipal division or the city. Also, there is neither a city ordinance nor statutory provisions which authorizes the court to collect warrant fees. The Court Clerk is not bonded, and backup copies of municipal division computer data are not stored off-site.

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