Auditor Galloway releases audit of Stoddard County, makes recommendations for greater efficiencies to county officials

State Auditor Nicole Galloway today issued her office's audit of Stoddard County, located in southeast Missouri.  The county received a rating of "good," an improvement from the "fair" rating given by the previous state audit in March 2018.

"I'm encouraged that Stoddard County officials indicated they plan to implement, or have implemented, the audit's recommendations and that there was overall improvement from the previous review done by my office in 2018," Auditor Galloway said.

The audit found the County Collector-Treasurer did not properly review Assessment Fund withholdings and commissions calculated by the property tax system to ensure accuracy. As a result, the County Collector-Treasurer under withheld Assessment Fund fees by $101,884 and commissions by $66,516. The audit also found the County Collector-Treasurer did not prepare a monthly list of liabilities, and consequently, liabilities are not agreed to the reconciled bank balances. In his response, the County Collector-Treasurer said actions have been taken to correct the problems with the assessment withholdings and the commissions. He also said a list of liabilities is being generated and is now part of the month to month reconciliation process.

The audit also found the Sheltered Facilities Board did not ensure written agreements were entered into or renewed with some not-for-profit entities it provided funding in recent years. In 2018 and 2019, the board provided initial start-up costs for two other not-for-profits without approving written agreements with those entities; when both of those entities dissolved in 2019, the board was unable to recover any of those funds because there was no agreement that allowed for recovery. County officials said they would ensure contracts exist with all entities provided funding in the future.

The audit also recommends that the county develop a written records management and retention policy to address electronic communications management and retention to comply with Missouri law, and take steps to adequately protect county records through data backup and password and security controls.

The complete audit of Stoddard County can be found here.