Auditor Fitzpatrick gives Cedar County a rating of "fair" in new report

Cedar County government receives a "fair" rating in a new report released today by Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick that finds a mistake made by the County Clerk resulted in the county levying $1.2 million in excess property taxes. The report also finds the County Collector incorrectly withheld railroad and utility property taxes collected, which resulted in various political subdivisions not receiving the full amount owed to them.

"While I commend county officials for agreeing to implement our recommendations, this report shows a county government that needs to be more focused on details and more aware of its statutorily-required duties. To see taxpayers be overtaxed by $1.2 million because an elected official is not able to accurately calculate the sales tax rollback is simply unacceptable," said Auditor Fitzpatrick. "I strongly encourage county officials to enact plans to make restitution to the people of Cedar County for this significant over-collection of their tax dollars, and for the county to implement all of the recommendations made in this report."

The audit report found the County Clerk did not sufficiently reduce the property tax levy in the sales tax rollback calculations to offset 50 percent of the sales tax money received from 2020 through 2023. The excess property tax amounted to approximately $1.2 million. State law requires the county to reduce property taxes for a percentage of sales taxes collected. In 2020 the county did not reduce the property tax rate for sales tax collected even though a reduction was required. From 2021 through 2023, the County Clerk incorrectly calculated the sales tax reduction. 

The report also finds the county needs to improve its controls and procedures over the county's property tax system and in the County Collector's office. The report found the County Collector misreported approximately $357,000 in utility collections as delinquent taxes, resulting in an overstatement of total delinquent taxes, understatement of collections, and a discrepancy between total collections and total distributions on the annual settlement. Additionally, the County Collector incorrectly withheld 2 percent on railroad and utility property taxes collected rather than the allowed 1 percent. As a result, the various political subdivisions did not receive the full amount owed to them and the county deposited the excess commissions into the General Revenue Fund. In total, the County Collector incorrectly withheld approximately $2,900 from railroad and utility property taxes that she should have disbursed to the political subdivisions. 

Other findings in the report include the failure of the Public Administrator to consistently file annual settlement statements timely, lacking procedures in the Sheriff's office to follow up on outstanding checks in the Inmate Trust bank account, a mid-term salary increase of $11,719 to the Sheriff that violates constitutional provisions, and a failure to develop a records management and retention policy that includes electronic communication. 

The full audit report is available here.