Auditor Galloway identifies several concerns in review of city of Belton, provides recommendations to local officials

An audit of the city of Belton has identified several concerns about the city's financial controls and procedures, and made recommendations to local officials to address those concerns. State Auditor Nicole Galloway today issued the audit of Belton, which was initiated through a citizen petition. The audit gave a rating of "good."

"My office conducted an independent review of Belton and found several areas to increase accountability to taxpayers," Auditor Galloway said. "I am encouraged by the responses of city officials to our recommendations, and urge them to continue moving forward with those measures."

The city of Belton has established procedures to allocate overhead and administrative costs to various restricted funds. The audit found the city's procedures are not adequate to ensure money from those restricted funds is used only for intended purposes, and that some amounts transferred from the Wastewater and Water Funds are not adequately supported. In addition, the audit found that severance payments to several city employees were not approved by the City Council or Park Board, and may have not been necessary or reasonable.

The Police Department needs to improve its controls and procedures, the audit also found. These include adequately segregating accounting duties and ensuring there are documented supervisory or independent reviews of the department's finances. The department also needs better controls and procedures over seized property.

The audit found the city's Parks and Recreation department needs better controls and procedures for receipting and recording transactions, in order to ensure all money collected is accounted for properly. The audit also found the city has not developed a records management and retention policy to ensure compliance with state guidelines.

The review from Auditor Galloway provides several recommendations for greater accountability. In their responses to the audit, city officials said they have since adopted policies to address those concerns.

A copy of the complete audit can be found here.