Report released by Auditor Fitzpatrick finds several areas of Gentry County government operations in need of improvement

A new performance audit released by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick finds officials in Gentry County have several areas where they can improve the efficiency and transparency of governmental operations. The audit released today gives the county a "fair" rating, which is a downgrade from the "good" rating the county received in its previous performance audit released in 2017.

"This audit identified many areas where county officials can improve their operations to ensure they are more accountable and accessible to taxpayers," said Auditor Fitzpatrick. "It's now up to the elected officials in Gentry County to act quickly to implement our recommendations. Given their responses, I am confident they will do just that and when we come back in a few years we'll see significant improvement."

The audit found the County Commission does not adequately monitor the county's budget-to-actual receipts and disbursements. Actual disbursements exceeded the county's budgeted disbursements for the year ended December 31, 2024, by $852,251. The Commission did not prepare a budget amendment for the excess disbursements in accordance with state law. Additionally, the Commission needs to comply with state law by adopting a written policy regarding public access to county records. Currently, the county does not have a policy and does not maintain any documentation of requests made. The county also did not accurately show transfers in and out for several funds in the Prior Year Actual Summary section in the approved budget, and does not have procedures in place to identify capital asset purchases and dispositions throughout the year.

In the Public Administrator's Office, the audit found the Public Administrator did not always file annual settlements timely. Of the 7 wards reviewed, the most recent settlement was not filed timely for 5 of the wards. Settlements for these 5 wards were filed 9 to 134 days after the due date. The Public Administrator did not include real property in the ending inventory balance totaling $71,400 in 1 ward's annual settlement. A review of the County Collector-Treasurer's Office found the County Collector-Treasurer does not have current written contracts with all cities for tax billing and collection services as required by law.

Other findings in the report include a failure by the Sheriff's Office to maintain documentation for civil paper service requests; a mid-term salary increase for the Sheriff totaling $53,866 in violation of constitutional provisions and state law; lacking compliance with the Sunshine Law by the Senior Citizens' Services Board, a records management and retention policy by the county that fails to include electronic communication, and inadequate password controls in the office of the Ex Officio Recorder of Deeds.

The complete audit report is available here.