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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
March 12, 2003
Report No. 2003-24
The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the City of Maryland Heights, Missouri.
There is no documentation to support the determination of the purchase price of� land bought for a park on Parkwood Lane.� The city purchased the property for approximately $240,000, while an appraisal performed for the city in February 2001 indicated the property value was $180,000.� In addition, there is no documentation to support the City Council's approval of the purchase price of the property.
The method of accounting for revenues and expenditures relating to parks and recreation is more complex than necessary.� Accounting for all parks and recreation activities in the Parks Fund would more easily show compliance with restrictions regarding the use of the sales tax monies.
The city allocates construction management costs based on estimated rather than actual time spent on projects.� For the year ended December 31, 2001, the city transferred $538,904, to the General Fund for reimbursement of construction management costs.� To ensure funds are used only for their restricted purpose, a more accurate allocation of the costs should be made based on actual time spent on each project.
City personnel are not ensuring invoice details agree to contracts.� One contract for condemnation services did not contain any rates while invoices for engineering and telecommunications audit services contained rates other than those set by contract.
The City Council authorized a change order in 2000 for sewer repairs, increasing the original contract from $42,500 to $100,000, without requiring personnel to re-bid the services.
The city spent approximately $13,000, for food and gifts at three annual appreciation dinners for city employees, members of city boards and commissions, and reserve officers. The city also often provides food at training sessions and other city meetings. Additionally, numerous credit card statements were paid without adequate supporting documentation of purchases during 2002 and 2001.� Supporting documentation, could not be provided for 15 percent of credit card purchases reviewed, totaling $1,239.
It is unclear how the criteria listed in the Request for Proposals (RFP) for audit services related to the criteria used to evaluate the audit firms, and� city personnel did not maintain documentation to support the allocation of points to each firm.� In addition, the city did not receive audits in compliance with their RFP.
Detailed minutes of closed meetings were not kept and minutes of committee and board meetings were not complete and maintained by the City Clerk.
