Missouri State Auditor gives Schuyler County 'good' audit rating
Schuyler County received a “good” audit rating according to a report released earlier this week by Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway.
Areas of concern included sheriff controls and procedures, County Collector controls and procedures and information systems backup. A press release from Galloway’s office noted findings in the sheriff’s office largely pertain to the previous sheriff who was in office during the time of the audit in 2014.
“I’m pleased to report to the citizens of Schuyler County that the county has received a performance rating of ‘good,’ which is the second highest rating available,” Galloway said. “While there were areas of concern, the county has begun to incorporate the recommendations made by my office to ensure efficiency and accountability for its taxpayers.”
Findings included:
“Sheriff controls and procedures: A master listing of all seized property is not maintained. The Sheriff’s office does not maintain adequate records over inmate monies nor do office personnel always issue receipt slips immediately upon receipt of monies received after regular office hours. Additionally, checks and money orders are not restrictively endorsed immediately upon receipt, and some fuel and mileage logs for county-owned vehicles were missing.”
“County Collector controls and procedures: The County Collector allows the County Clerk and the County Treasurer to collect property taxes, resulting in inappropriately segregated duties. The County Collector, the Deputy County Collector, the County Treasurer, and the County Clerk use the same password to access a County Collector’s office computer.”
“Information Systems backup: The Prosecuting Attorney does not back up computer data. The Recorder of Deeds and County Assessor do not store backup files at an off-site location. The County Assessor’s office computers contain the databases for the property tax system shared by the County Assessor, County Clerk, and County Collector’s offices, leaving those offices at risk if data could not be recovered.”
“Additional comments: Because counties are managed by several separately-elected individuals, an audit finding made with respect to one office does not necessarily apply to the operations in another office. The overall rating assigned to the county is intended to reflect the performance of the county as a whole. It does not indicate the performance of any one elected official or county office.”
In their responses, Schuyler County officials accepted recommendations and noted several changes, including: the sheriff’s office now has a master inventory of evidence collected; fuel and mileage logs are required for all sheriff’s office vehicles; the sheriff’s office no longer handles inmate monies; the County Collector’s office handles all money collections and each employee has a unique password; data is backed up and located off-site.