12/19/2016
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway has released a follow up report on the Pine Lawn municipal court, located in St. Louis County. The review was conducted after a June audit raised concerns with widespread mismanagement throughout court operations. The follow-up report found little progress has been made in many areas, and the city has not paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the state for exceeding state limits on the percentage of revenue it kept from fines associated with traffic violations.
"Despite agreeing to corrective action earlier this year the Pine Lawn municipal court continues to fail to meet the most basic threshold of functional and productive operations," Auditor Galloway said. "It is unclear whether the court's inaction is due to a lack of concern or a lack of ability, but it is not acceptable for any public body to operate with so little accountability. There is an obvious disconnect between the standards people expect from a court and the activity we have identified in Pine Lawn municipal court."
The previous report found city personnel miscalculated the amount owed to the state for excess revenues generated from traffic violations. Based on auditors' calculations the city generated 46 percent of its general operating revenue from traffic violations and likely owed more than $400,000 to the Department of Revenue under the law that was in effect at the time. That money has not been paid, and city officials do not appear to have any plans to do so.
The report shows the court has made little progress transferring court cases into a new electronic case management system. In August of 2015, the municipal judge ordered 11,000 warrants to be recalled with the direction that those cases would be entered into the new system and receive new court dates. The previous report noted thousands of cases had not yet been entered in the new system. This review found court staff has since made little progress entering cases into the new system.
The court has continued to neglect basic accounting functions, and is not performing accurate bank account reconciliations, following up on outstanding checks, or identifying bond liabilities in order to reconcile them to accounting records.
Of ten areas reviewed for the follow up report, only one had been implemented. The previous report described how court personnel lacked accurate and complete files, with some cases missing necessary basic records, including tickets, dockets or warrants. The process has been improved to ensure all documentation is included in new case files when they are created.
The Pine Lawn municipal court is a division of the 21st Judicial Circuit. A complete copy of the follow-up report is available here .
The Pine Lawn municipal court audit was conducted as part of the Municipal Courts Initiative, which expands the standard court audit process. In addition to reviewing financial transactions, accounting practices, and compliance with court rules and state law, auditors also review statistical information, tickets and other penalties to identify improper activities or practices that may impair impartiality or damage the court's credibility with citizens.
