New report from Auditor Fitzpatrick gives Randolph County government a rating of "poor" and finds several areas in the County Clerk's Office in need of improvement

Numerous mistakes made by the Randolph County Clerk's Office have contributed to the county receiving a rating of "poor" in a new audit report released today by Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick. The audit documents how the County Clerk failed to comply with state law, which will force the Higbee Fire Protection District to place a bond issue on the ballot for a third time, made numerous errors when reporting the assessed valuation of each taxing jurisdiction, and may have caused the county to collect excessive property taxes.

"This audit has revealed serious failures within the County Clerk's Office that need to be addressed immediately. A lack of understanding of how to carry out the duties of the office has caused significant errors in assessed valuation totals for every taxing district in the county, and will force taxpayers to pay for a third election to approve bonds to be issued for the Higbee Fire Protection District due to failing to properly notify voters. These kinds of mistakes simply can't happen, but because they did, our report gives the office a set of recommendations that, if followed, will prevent such egregious errors from happening again," said Auditor Fitzpatrick.

The audit documents how the County Clerk failed to follow state law by publishing sample ballots for elections held in the county. Voters approved a $1 million bond issuance for the Higbee Fire Protection District in August 2024, and then an additional $620,000 in bonds on the November 2024 ballot. However, when the district attempted to register the bonds with the State Auditor's Office, the office determined neither the August nor the November 2024 elections complied with state law, which requires publication of the sample ballot in a newspaper of general circulation prior to the election. Due to the County Clerk's errors, the fire protection district is forced to place the bond issue on the ballot for a third time.

The audit also found the County Clerk reported incorrect assessed valuation totals for the 2024 tax year to the SAO and the taxing entities for all 39 property tax levies assessed by 24 taxing entities in the county. For 1 jurisdiction, the County Clerk entered the assessed valuation of personal property in the jurisdiction as $15.1 million instead of $151.1 million. As a result, the jurisdiction's total assessed valuation was understated by $136 million. For 2 entities, the County Clerk failed to include the value of state-assessed Railroad and Utility assets when entering the assessed valuations. As a result, the entities' total assessed valuations were understated by $9.9 million for one entity and $353,000 for the other.

Other findings include the County Clerk costing the county an additional approximately $50,000 in reimbursements by failing to accurately calculate and bill election costs, the county potentially collecting excessive property taxes because of a failure to properly calculate property tax reductions, a lack of proper receipting controls in the County Clerk's Office, a failure by the Public Administrator to file annual settlements timely, the County Commission not complying with the Sunshine Law for closed meetings, a mid-term salary increase for the County Sheriff that violates constitutional provisions and state law, and a failure by the county to develop a records management and retention policy that includes electronic communication in compliance with the Missouri Secretary of State Records Services Division guidance.

The complete audit of Randolph County can be found here. It does not include findings on the Randolph County Sheriff's Office, which will be released separately in a stand-alone report.