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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
Report No. 2000-17
March 16, 2000
Some problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office in response to the request of petitioners from the City of Everton, Missouri.
Cash receipts totaling $837 were missing from three utility deposits made on September 2, 1999. Other receipts totaling $534 were not deposited, and there is documentation of only $66 of cash disbursements from these monies. The city paid Marchelle Roe $3,372 for clerical services from December 1997 to August 1999 while she served the city as the Mayor and as Alderwoman. In addition, she was overpaid $89 during September when she served as City Clerk. Marchelle Roe purchased some computer equipment for personal use with the city's credit card, and a city computer was stored at Marchelle Roe's personal residence after the Board of Aldermen voted to sell the computer.
In April 1998, Marchelle Roe installed a mobile home and was connected to city water and sewer. City receipt records do not indicate that a hook up fee of $350 was collected from Marchelle Roe, as required by city ordinance. In addition, she was unable to provide documentation (receipt/canceled check) of payment. The Board of Aldermen should review the situation and ensure the $350 hook up fee is properly paid and deposited.
Board minutes are not prepared for closed meetings and the Board of Aldermen conducted business during closed meetings that does not appear to meet the requirements of state law. The board minutes of open meetings did not document the related vote and the specific reasons for going into closed session. The Board of Aldermen changed the city's ward boundary, resulting in the legal status of two aldermen positions being questioned. The city appointed an alderman to the board that had not been a resident of the city for one year. Board minutes were not always signed by the City Clerk and Mayor, and the city has not established a formal policy regarding public access to city records.
The city does not have a formal bidding policy, and the Board of Alderman does not always review and approve payment of city expenditures prior to the disbursements being made.
The city employs one individual for sewer related services. During the year ending June 30, 1999 he was paid a salary of $14,400. The city also paid $16,661 in contract labor payments to a business owned by this employee for water and street related services, such as gravel hauling, backhoe services, and meter reading services. During our review of this situation we noted the following:
1. There is no documentation that bids or proposals were solicited from other sources for the contract labor payments.
2. Time sheets are not prepared to support salary payments.
3. The city pays the sewer employee a vehicle allowance of $100 each month for the use of his personal vehicle. No documentation of actual miles driven is prepared to support this allowance.
The city deposits motor-vehicle-related revenues into the general fund, and documentation did not exist to support the allocation of some expenditures from restricted funds.
The city does not reconcile the total gallons of water billed to customers to the gallons of water pumped. A formal review of the city's water and sewer rates is not performed annually.
No independent verification of the tax books is performed, and the City Collector makes all addition and abatements to the tax books without review or approval by the Board of Aldermen. The City Collector does not prepare monthly or annual reports of taxes collected as well as those that remain delinquent, and the city has not adequately pursued the collection of delinquent property taxes.
City budgets did not comply with state law, and semi-annual financial statements were not published as required by law.
