06/13/2018
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (June 14, 2018) An audit of the Vernon County Ambulance District released today by State Auditor Nicole Galloway highlights several areas of concern and also provides recommendations for the district to improve fiscal accountability to taxpayers. The audit of the district, which is located in southwest Missouri and serves approximately 21,000 people, was initiated through a citizen petition.
In 2015, the district board fired Director of Operations James McKenzie and Office Manager Tina Werner because of the district's poor financial condition. An investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the FBI led to indictments against McKenzie and Werner for embezzlement in May 2017, with the case scheduled for trial later this year. Last summer, Auditor Galloway announced her office would undertake an audit of the district after receiving a petition containing the required number of signatures from registered voters in the district.
"With this audit, we have laid out a path forward for the Vernon County Ambulance District to help regain the public trust," the Auditor said. "While there are many areas that need to be addressed, it is encouraging that the district board has undertaken some of the recommendations and indicated a willingness to keep moving forward."
The audit report gave a rating of "fair" to the district. Auditor Galloway said while the audit pointed to several areas to address, the district board has indicated it has or will implement many of the recommendations.
The audit findings included the need to improve accounts receivable procedures. After the former office manager was fired, district personnel did not make sufficient efforts to restore billing and patient account data lost in the December 2014 billing system crash and nor did they make proactive efforts to collect accounts receivable for trip charges. The audit also said that write-offs of old billing debt need to be more closely monitored and documented, and written policies improved. In response to the audit, the district said it was addressing the situation of its accounts receivable through a billing service and improved review by the board.
The report also discussed several other deficiencies in accounting processes, and said that controls and procedures over receipting and disbursements need improvement. District financial reports have not been filed timely, and district budgets do not include all of the elements required by state law. The board also needs to improve the district's electronic data security procedures, capital asset records, and compliance with the Sunshine Law.
District officials are researching data recovery procedures beyond what is currently in use. The district also said it would begin using better accounting controls and disbursement procedures, develop procedures to comply with the Sunshine Law, create and maintain a list of capital assets and implement a more robust electronic security policy.
The complete audit report can be found here.
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