State auditor’s office issues annual report

The 64-page report summarizes all audits completed by the office last year. Among the findings:

• An audit of the Ozark Fire Protection District found misappropriations, in the form of questionable credit card charges, of more than $28,000, and $24,000 was electronically withdrawn from the district’s bank account without authorization;

• The Department of Mental Health’s Joplin and Springfield Regional Centers haven’t taken steps to ensure the best possible care, including lack of adequate documentation for amounts billed by service providers;

• Missouri’s 524 public school districts have no state procurement guidelines, even though the districts spend a combined $2 billion annually on goods and services that can be competitively bid;

• The state spent $233 million during fiscal 2005 for home and community-based personal care services but recouped only $503,000 in Medicaid funds; and

• Missouri’s average annual tuition for four-year public colleges – $5,829 – was the highest tuition among Big 12 states and second only to Illinois among contiguous states.

“Our office remains committed to assisting state, county and local governments to become more efficient, and to ensure government accountability to Missouri taxpayers,” State Auditor Susan Montee said in the report. The audits cited in the report were done by Montee’s predecessor, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.

The full report is available at the state auditor’s Web site, www.auditor.mo.gov.