The Missouri State Auditor’s Office has given Polk County a fair rating in a recent audit.
The report by Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick found several areas in the Polk County Public Administrator’s Office that require improvement.
The report found the public administrator did not adequately monitor the financial activity of some wards. Those included making a disbursement from a decedent’s estate without required court approval, not always paying wards’ bills on time and allowing care facilities to make significant purchases for wards without review.
The report also found problems at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. It states that office personnel don’t maintain a complete and accurate seized property list, don’t conduct periodic physical inventories of seized property, have not established procedures to dispose of seized property and did not maintain disposal forms for all disposed items. During a review of the seized property room, however, all items were properly tagged and identified.
Other findings: The sheriff’s office administrator failed to prepare a monthly list of liabilities for the evidence account bank balance; and the county commission authorized mid-term salary increases to the sheriff in violation of constitutional provisions.
The report found that neither the Polk County Commission nor the sheriff solicited bids for inmate meals and inmate medical services. The County Commission didn’t solicit bids for the four vehicles purchased in 2023; and the county did not develop a records management and retention policy that includes electronic communication in compliance with the Missouri Secretary of State Records Division guidance.
