JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — State Auditor Nicole Galloway Wednesday released an audit of county government in Ozark County, located in southern Missouri. The audit identified concerns in several county offices and gave a rating of “fair.”
“Our audit highlights several areas of concern for Ozark County officials and also gives them recommendations to better manage taxpayer dollars and resources,” Auditor Galloway said. “The responses to the audit indicate those officials are taking many of the steps that were recommended, and I encourage them to continue to move forward in order to better serve the citizens of Ozark County.”
The audit identified concerns with accounting controls and procedures in the offices of the Sheriff, Ex Officio Recorder of Deeds, County Assessor and County Clerk. In addition, the audit found that the county did not properly report property tax levy reductions in 2016 and the county clerk used an incorrect tax rate ceiling in the sales tax reduction calculations for 2017. The county clerk has begun the process to correct the tax rate ceiling.
Also discussed in the report were concerns regarding county officials not maintaining appropriate time and leave records or following established written personnel policies for vacation leave and compensatory time, and insufficient controls over county computers to protect them from unauthorized access or loss of data.
The complete audit can be found online here.
