Auditor Fitzpatrick gives Barton County a "fair" rating in new report

A review of governmental operations in Barton County is now complete and the final result is a "fair" rating issued to the county by Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick's report identifies several areas in need of improvement in the Barton County Collector-Treasurer's Office as well as the Sheriff's Office.

"The good news for the people of Barton County is our audit didn't find evidence of fraud or abuse, but we did find a number of areas where county officials need to do a better job of paying attention to details and complying with the law or meeting their obligations to provide adequate oversight. In particular there are a number of issues in the Sheriff's Office that have persisted over the years and need to be addressed," said Auditor Fitzpatrick. "I'm encouraged by the response we received from county officials and hope this means they will fully implement our recommendations to ensure these issues don't exist the next time we audit Barton County."

The report finds the county needs to improve its controls and procedures over the property tax system. The report notes the County Collector-Treasurer violated state law by failing to timely file the annual settlement or monthly settlements for the year ended February 28, 2025. Additionally, neither the County Clerk nor the County Commission adequately review the financial activities of the County Collector-Treasurer. The audit also finds the County Clerk did not prepare the back tax, land and personal tax, or the railroad and utility tax aggregate abstracts for 2024 as required by law.

In looking at the County Collector-Treasurer's Office, the report finds the County Collector-Treasurer does not have current written agreements with cities for tax billing and collection services, which is required by law. The County Collector-Treasurer incorrectly calculated county commissions and withheld incorrect percentages for county commissions for taxes collected during the year ended February 28, 2025. As a result, the county collected approximately $1,300 more than allowed in February 2025, which persisted throughout the year.

A review of the Sheriff's Office finds the Sheriff needs to work to maintain accurate commissary transaction records and reconcile these records to inventory purchased and sold, as well as establish procedures for charging and collecting sales tax on commissary sales. The Sheriff also needs to establish procedures to follow up on outstanding checks or ensure liabilities are disbursed in the Inmate Money bank account, and needs to prepare monthly lists of liabilities for the Sheriff's general bank account. The report also recommends the Sheriff work with the County Commission to improve the condition of the Law Enforcement Sales Tax (LEST) fund, which is in poor financial condition, and cease deficit spending in accordance with state law. The fund had a deficit cash balance at the end of 2024 and would have had a large deficit cash balance at the end of 2023 and 2022 without transfers from the General Revenue Fund.

Other findings in the report include the failure of the County Clerk to timely submit certified copies of the 2024 and 2025 county budgets to the State Auditor's Office (SAO) in accordance with state law, a mid-term salary increase for the Sheriff in violation of constitutional provisions and state law, and the lack of a records management and retention policy that includes electronic communication.

The complete audit report for Barton County is available here.