Schweich Releases Bates County Audit

  State Auditor Tom Schweich released  the audit of Bates County on January 9th, 2013. State law requires  the auditor to audit all counties that do not elect a county auditor. In the areas audited, The overall performance of this entity was fair. However, the audit revealed serious short comings within the Sheriff's office. The Sheriff, his administration assistant and deputy sometimes circumvent the normal county budgeting and disbursement process by using personal credit cards to purchase numerous items for operation. Also, detailed expenses reimbursement forms with supporting documentation are not prepared for travel costs incurred. Audit staff reviewed 10 reimbursement requests and found 42 items claimed for reimbursement were not supported by adequate documentation. ( For example, The county commission approved a $4,429 payment to the Sheriff's credit card vendor for airline tickets and hotel reservations for a law enforcement conference in Hawaii Jan.2012 without any supporting documentation to support the expense other than a letter from the Sheriff requesting the payment. The county reimbursed the Sheriff's administrative assistant $1,415 twice for the same purchases, and there is no supporting documentation to show the duplicate payment was applied to other county purchases. In the prosecuting attorney's office, followed up on the outstanding restitution  checks is not adequate, and on December 31,2011 there was 68 outstanding checks totaling $5,597 more than a year old. But no action was taken to determine why these checks had no cleared the bank. To view the complete report, Citizens Summary and audit rating scale, please visit:

http://www.auditor.mo.gov/AuditReports/CitzSummary.aspx?id=156

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