Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway’s office today released an report giving the city of Sparta’s municipal court the second-worst audit grade.
In the
audit released today, state officials pointed to negligent record-keeping procedures, improper fees, incomplete case files and data security weaknesses.
Monthly legal reports in the Christian County town analyzed by the auditor’s office were missing such required information as the defendant’s name, the amount of fines and court costs.
"Our team found that, too often, court files were incomplete and records were missing important information," Galloway said in a news release. "If we want Missourians to respect and feel confident in our court system, they need to know it's a system they can trust."
Other audit findings included:
• inadequate tracking of information related to minor traffic violations;
• improper determination of whether excess court revenues were owed to the state Department of Revenue;
• $1,125 in warrant fees collected for the year ended June 30, 2015, even though the law does not authorize such collections; and
• the use of a single user ID and password, originally assigned to the former county clerk, shared among all staff who used court computers.
The state’s audit was completed following a petition by residents. A city audit is currently underway, according to the release.
In the audit, Sparta city officials responded saying new staff members have since been added to stop improper record-keeping processes, the use of new software has alleviated issues related to state payments and the password situation has been taken care of.
