Vernon County gets “poor” rating in Missouri State audit

The former Vernon County Clerk misused taxpayer dollars to buy himself a retirement gift, and to make other questionable purchases of items such as a heated vest according to a report released today by State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick.

The regularly-scheduled audit, which gives the county the lowest possible rating of “poor,” also found Vernon County residents were overtaxed by approximately $123,000 in property tax revenue by not properly rolling back the property tax levy for all sales tax collected.

“Taxpayers in Vernon County deserve better and should be able to trust that their government officials aren’t using their tax dollars irresponsibly while also overtaxing them. This audit report provides substantive recommendations that will allow the county to correct the mistakes of the past and ensure they don’t happen again,” said Auditor Fitzpatrick. He added, “I’m glad to see the current clerk and other county officials are taking our recommendations seriously and working in good faith to put them into place.”

The audit documents nearly $5,300 in purchases by the former clerk that were either inappropriate or inessential to the administration and operation of the office. The list of items includes $311 for retirement gifts the former clerk purchased for himself and the former presiding commissioner, as well as $160 for a heated vest. The report also notes $611 used to purchase headphones as gifts for his employees, $530 for a cell phone signal booster for the home of the former clerk, and $3,125 in gift card purchases that were given to county employees as Christmas gifts. The audit report notes that public funds should be spent only on items necessary and beneficial to the county.

Another finding in the report highlights the former clerk failed to accurately calculate the property tax reduction in 2020 and 2021. The miscalculation resulted in Vernon County residents being overtaxed by $71,000 in 2020 and $97,000 in 2021. While the current clerk made the adjustment correctly in 2022 and 2023 and decreased the accumulated excess property tax revenue by approximately $45,000, the county still has approximately $123,000 in excess collections. The report recommends the county work to properly calculate property tax reductions and correct the accumulation of excess property tax revenue.

The audit also highlights the lacking controls and procedures in the County Collector-Treasurer’s Office that led to more than $13.5 million in uncorrected errors that were a result of numerous unrecorded or incorrectly recorded deposits, bad checks, and other errors identified in the accounting system. The report found the collector-treasurer does not adequately perform bank reconciliations and that supporting documentation for the book balance used in the reconciliation for the general account is not maintained and the adjusted bank balance calculated in the reconciliation does not represent the available cash balance of the account. In addition, a liabilities list is not prepared and reconciled to the available cash balance in the general account.

Other findings in the report include lacking procedures to ensure all tax money received is transferred to the treasurer’s account prior to distribution, nearly $200,000 in improper withholdings made by the collector-treasurer, failure to comply with the Missouri Sunshine Law, lacking controls and procedures in the County Clerk’s Office, a failure to develop a records management and retention policy that includes electronic communications, and a mid-term salary increase of $25,434 to the sheriff in September 2022, retroactive to January 1, 2022, in violation of constitutional provisions and state law.

The complete audit of Vernon County can be found here.

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