YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

September 21, 1999
Report No. 99-80

IMPORTANT: The Missouri State Auditor is required by Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like Schuyler, which do not have a county auditor. However, to assist such counties in meeting federal audit requirements, the State Auditor will also perform a financial and compliance audit of various county operating funds every two years. This voluntary service to Missouri counties can only be provided when state auditing resources are available and does not interfere with the State Auditor's constitutional responsibility of auditing state government.

Once every four years, the State Auditor's statutory audit will cover additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials, as required by Missouri's Constitution.

This audit of Schuyler 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 is annually required to reduce its property tax levy by 50% of the sales tax collected. As of December 31, 1998, the county had not reduced property tax revenues by $66,469 as the result of excess amounts collected in prior years. To account for prior years' excess property tax revenues collected, the County Commission should reduce the general revenue tax levy in 1999 by 38 cents. The 1999 budget reflects only an estimated 21 cent general revenue property tax reduction.

The audit recommended improvements in bidding procedures, invoice processing, and county employee leave records. Also included in the audit are recommendations regarding the Schuyler County Health Center's land purchase procedures and lack of budgeting for the building project.

In addition, because of concerns over the building project recently reported to the State Auditor, additional audit procedures relating to the building project will be performed.

Complete Audit Report