Auditor delivers second-highest rating to Greene County collector

The Greene County collector's office this week received the second-best audit score from Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway's team.

The "good" rating for the collector's office came after a change of leadership in March, when former state Rep. Allen Icet was appointed to the role after Leah Betts' exit, according to a news release. Missouri law requires an audit be performed when a vacancy occurs in a county collector's office, and the results of the auditor's investigation cover Greene County operations prior to Icet's tenure.

The auditor's only recommendation to the county is for personal property tax statements, an issue that led to Betts' resignation. Betts has claimed she was hindered in doing her job by technical errors in the assessor’s office and added she brought challenges to the attention of county leadership last year, according to past reporting.

The audit found a new personal property assessment system implemented in January 2020 did not correctly transfer assessed valuations for personal property to the property tax billing and collection system used by the offices of the county collector and county clerk, according to the release. That led to a delay in the mailing of tax statements to residents.

The recommendation asked Greene County to ensure property tax statements are prepared and mailed in compliance with statutory requirements. The auditee's response indicates the county collector has since updated its procedures to address the issue.

"The overall performance rating of 'good' is reflective of the efforts by this office to address the problems associated with the new software system," Icet said in the release. "This has been a concern that various county officials have worked on since 2020 to ensure the underlying issues are resolved."