Auditor Fitzpatrick gives Webster County officials recommendations to make county government more efficient and effective

A number of Webster County officials need to take steps to improve operations according to a new report released by Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick. The audit report issued today by Fitzpatrick's office gives the county a "fair" rating.

"The good news is our audit of Webster County didn't uncover any fraud, but we did find issues throughout many of the county offices that can be improved to reduce the risk of money going missing or being misused in the future," said Auditor Fitzpatrick. "Our report contains recommendations that can put the county on a better path going forward by strengthening their controls and procedures, which will in turn reduce the opportunity for potential fraud to occur in the future. I'm encouraged by the response from county officials and appreciate their commitment to implementing our recommendations."

The audit report found several areas that need to be addressed in the Webster County Sheriff's Office to improve controls and procedures. The office needs to improve receipting, recording, and depositing procedures, and needs to establish procedures to follow up on outstanding checks. The report also points out that office personnel are unsure when a physical inventory of seized property was last performed. The report notes that adequate internal controls are essential for seized property to  significantly reduce the risk of loss, theft, or misuse of the property. The audit also identifies that office personnel prepare a monthly list of liabilities for the inmate commissary account, but the liabilities are not agreed to the reconciled bank balance, and the office does not maintain cumulative book balances for the bond, revolving, and civil and general bank accounts.

The audit report also finds lacking controls and procedures in the Prosecuting Attorney's Office and the County Clerk's Office. The Prosecuting Attorney has not adequately segregated accounting duties or performed documented supervisory reviews of detailed accounting and bank records, and does not prepare bank reconciliations, a cumulative book balance, and a monthly list of liabilities. In addition, the Prosecuting Attorney does not disburse interest accrued to the County Treasurer. The office also needs to improve procedures for receipting and recording. The County Clerk's Office does not have adequate procedures for receipting, recording, and transmitting money. A review noted the office held $16,500 in receipts for over 1 month prior to transmitting to the County Treasurer.

Additionally, the report identifies lacking controls and procedures in the Public Administrator's Office and the County Collector's Office. Public Administrator's Office personnel do not issue receipt slips for or log checks received in the mail, which increases the risk that loss, theft, or misuse of money received will occur and go undetected. County Collector's Office personnel do not prepare adequate bank reconciliations or maintain an accurate book balance for the main bank account. The audit notes that maintaining an accurate book balance and performing adequate bank reconciliations helps ensure receipts and disbursements have been properly handled and recorded, and increases the likelihood errors will be identified and corrected timely.

Another finding in the report points out the county's failure to report personal commissions received by the County Collector for the collection of city taxes as employee compensation to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or the Missouri Department of Revenue. The County Treasurer paid the County Collector commissions totaling $37,736 for the collection of city taxes during the fiscal year ended February 29, 2025, outside of the county payroll process. The County Commission was unaware of the need to report the commissions paid to the IRS and the state.

Other findings in the audit include mid-term salary increases totaling $25,581 to the Sheriff in violation of constitutional provisions; insufficient controls over county computers; and the county's failure 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 last performance audit of Webster County conducted by the State Auditor's Office was released in June 2017. The report gave the county a rating of "good" and found county officials had made significant improvements to oversight in the county clerk's office, and corrected issues in numerous other county offices. The current audit report is available here. 

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