Stoddard County officials promise to improve property tax withholdings, agreements with non profits after audit findings

State Auditor Nicole Galloway his issued her office’s audit of Stoddard County. The county received a rating of “good,” an improvement from the “fair” rating given by the previous state audit in March 2018.

“I’m encouraged that Stoddard County officials indicated they plan to implement, or have implemented, the audit’s recommendations and that there was overall improvement from the previous review done by my office in 2018,” Galloway said.

The audit found the county collector-treasurer did not properly review assessment fund withholdings and commissions calculated by the property tax system to ensure accuracy. 

As a result, the county collector-treasurer under withheld assessment fund fees by $101,884 and commissions by $66,516. This included almost $60,000 being under withheld in November 2021 from various school districts. The county collector-treasurer indicated he relied on the calculation template prepared by a previous officeholder to calculate the additional assessment fund withholding.

The audit also found the county collector-treasurer did not prepare a monthly list of liabilities, and consequently, liabilities are not agreed to the reconciled bank balances. In his response, the county collector-treasurer said actions have been taken to correct the problems with the assessment withholdings and the commissions. He also said a list of liabilities is being generated and is now part of the month to month reconciliation process.

The audit also found the Sheltered Facilities Board did not ensure written agreements were entered into or renewed with some not-for-profit entities it provided funding in recent years. In 2018 and 2019, the board provided $187,000 in initial start-up costs for two other not-for-profits without approving written agreements with those entities; when both of those entities dissolved in 2019, the board was unable to recover any of those funds because there was no agreement that allowed for recovery. 

The board disbursed a total of approximately $230,000 in 2021 to 2 NFPs without renewing or extending the written agreements from the previous year, the audit further explained. One NFP operates the sheltered workshop and another provides services to citizens with disabilities.

County officials said they would ensure contracts exist with all entities provided funding in the future.

The audit also recommends that the county develop a written records management and retention policy to address electronic communications management and retention to comply with Missouri law, and take steps to adequately protect county records through data backup and password and security controls.

Salary information was also provided on county officeholders as part of the audit: 

Daniel K. Talkington, presiding commissioner $ 43,774

Carol Jarell, associate commissioner 41,774

Steve Jordan, associate commissioner 41,744

Kay Asbell, recorder of deeds 55,104

Cecil Weeks, county clerk 55,104

Russell Oliver, prosecuting attorney 146,073

Carl Hefner, sheriff 69,647

Brent Stidman, county coroner 25,112

Cindy Duckworth, public administrator 59,104

Joshua Speakman, collector-treasurer, year ended March 31, 90,506

Daniel Creg, county assessor, year ended August 31, 54,832

Other information included in the audit included: In April 2022, the County completed construction on a county jail addition, costing approximately $13,470,400. The construction was funded by a voter approved 1/2 of 1% sales tax, passed in 2018, and a lease purchase agreement of $9 million.