New report from Auditor Fitzpatrick finds Mississippi County residents have been overtaxed by $172,000 and significant improvements need to be made to the operation of county government

According to a report released today by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, officials in Mississippi County have a long list of changes to implement in order to make their county government more efficient and effective. The audit gives the county an overall rating of "fair" while finding residents of Mississippi County have been overtaxed by approximately $172,000 since 2016 and identifying significant areas that need to be addressed in the offices of the Prosecuting Attorney and Sheriff, as well as with the County Clerk and County Commission.

"The lack of essential controls and procedures in some county offices creates risk that theft or misuse of funds could occur and go undetected. When you see a Prosecuting Attorney's Office that takes years to make restitution payments to some victims, a Sheriff's Office that has no system to track seized weapons and drug paraphernalia, and a County Clerk whose miscalculation led to the county assessing approximately $172,000 in excess property taxes, it is clear there are significant issues in almost every office of the county government, and officials collectively need to make a commitment to improving the way the county operates," said Auditor Fitzpatrick. "I commend county officials for taking our recommendations seriously and committing to implement changes that will make governmental operations in Mississippi County more accountable and transparent."

The audit found lacking controls and procedures in the Prosecuting Attorney's Office including a failure to segregate duties and to perform adequate supervisory review of detailed accounting and bank records. The Prosecuting Attorney has entrusted the Legal Secretary to perform the duties of receiving, recording, depositing, and disbursing money without providing adequate review, which increases the risk of loss, theft, or misuse of funds. Additionally, office personnel do not prepare adequate bank reconciliations or maintain a book balance, nor do they prepare monthly lists of liabilities to reconcile to the available balance. The office's failure to deposit receipts timely has resulted in some victims waiting for years to receive their restitution payments.

A review of the Sheriff's Office found a similar lack of proper controls and procedures including a failure to adequately segregate accounting duties. The Administrative Director performs the duties of receiving, recording, depositing, and disbursing  money, and reconciling the bank account without adequate oversight from the Sheriff. Additionally, the Administrative Director does not prepare a bank reconciliation, maintain a monthly list of liabilities or outstanding items for the Sheriff's commissary account, and does not maintain a cumulative book balance in the accounting records. The report also found personnel do not maintain a seized property inventory listing or any other overall organizational system to track seized property, and do not conduct periodic physical inventories of seized property. The report notes adequate internal controls are essential and would significantly reduce the risk of loss, theft, or misuse of the property.

Another finding in the report identifies how the County Clerk failed to accurately calculate the property tax reduction amounts or retain sales tax rollback calculations for 2023 and prior years. As a result, the county has assessed approximately $172,000 in excess property taxes since 2016. Additionally, the County Clerk did not prepare and the County Commission did not approve budget amendments for 9 funds until after actual expenditures exceeded budgeted amounts. Actual expenditures exceeded budgeted amounts by approximately $290,000.

Other findings in the report include the county violating the Missouri Constitution by paying the County Clerk an additional $18,500 annually, the Mississippi County Senate Bill 40 Board paying $3,000 in Christmas bonuses to an employee in violation of the Missouri Constitution, a failure by the Mississippi County Commission to consistently comply with the Sunshine Law, the Public Administrator failing to always file annual settlements or status reports timely, the Recorder of Deeds performing monthly bank reconciliations that do not reconcile to the bank balance, and the County Assessor failing to establish proper procedures for receipting and transmitting money.

The complete audit report is available here.