Auditor Fitzpatrick announces start of petition audit of Stotts City

The people of Stotts City, located in Lawrence County, successfully petitioned the Missouri State Auditor's Office to conduct a performance audit of their municipality, and today State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick announced the review of the city's finances and operations is underway. The petition audit officially commenced when audit staff met with city officials on Friday, March 21.

"It has been 25 years since Stotts City has had a thorough review of its operations and the fine folks who took the time and effort to gather signatures deserve to have a closer look taken at the effectiveness and efficiency of their city government," said Auditor Fitzpatrick. "The audit process is extensive so I encourage residents to be patient as we work to give them a more detailed understanding of how their city government operates. I also encourage anyone with information that may be helpful to our audit to reach out through our Whistleblower Hotline."

This marks the first time the State Auditor's Office has audited Stotts City since 2000. That audit, which was also petitioned by residents, found the city did not adequately segregate accounting and bookkeeping duties, did not prepare or adopt annual budgets, and did not have a formal bidding process. The report also found the City Clerk was only depositing a portion of the utility payments, and routinely cashed personal checks for herself and friends from utility receipts. 

Residents of Stotts City gathered 34 signatures, which were verified by the Lawrence County Clerk, to trigger the petition audit.

Individuals may provide confidential information for consideration during the audit of Stotts City to the State Auditor's Whistleblower Hotline at 800-347-8597, by email at moaudit@auditor.mo.gov or by visiting www.auditor.mo.gov/hotline.