JEFFERSON CITY, MO (Dec. 23, 2015) State Auditor Nicole Galloway today released an audit report of the Henry County government. The audit identified concerns with accounting procedures in a number of county offices and recommended increased measures to protect the county’s electronic data.
“A number of the issues presented in today’s report have been identified in previous audits,” Auditor Galloway said. “Henry County officials need to implement our recommendations to operate more efficiently and transparently to better serve their citizens.”
The report outlined the need for increased checks and balances in a number of county offices to ensure accounting records were accurately maintained and designed to identify instances of loss, theft or misuse of funds. The audit also found the county commission failed to engage in competitive bidding for some purchases and violated the state’s Sunshine Law when it discussed topics in closed sessions that should have been open to the public. Additionally, the sheriff lacked procedures to maintain complete and accurate records for his bank accounts, the public administrator charged fees in advance without the court’s approval, and the county assessor charged a tax waiver fee that is not allowable by state law. The audit also identified illegal bonuses paid to employees in the county assessor’s office.
The complete audit report, which received an overall performance rating of “Poor,” is online here.
