The Missouri State Auditor’s office completed an audit of the City of Hamilton. The report includes several findings that will need to be addressed by the Board of Aldermen and the City Staff. Some of the findings include:
Street Maintenance – has not developed a formal maintenance plan to adequately maintain and repair city streets, as streets are currently in various states of disrepair.
Disbursements – the audit found conflicts of interest in a couple of construction projects where the city did not use the proper bid process. The projects were awarded to Alderman Trosper’s company. There were also problems with the financial disclosure forms. The mayor’s form was not accurate and Trosper did not file a form in 2017.
Utility Controls and procedures – The city’s utility billings were not consistent with city ordinances pertaining to outside city limits connections.
Budgeting Practices – City budgets do not include all statutorily required elements and the Park Fund was deficit budgeted in 2019.
And for the City Library – Property taxes received by the city for the library are not distributed timely to the Library Board and the library’s annual report for the year ended June 30, 2017 was not filed timely with the city.
The City responded to the audit findings and has committed to making the required changes and adjustments needed to resolve the issues.
The state auditor’s office scored the overall performance of the City of Hamilton as “Fair”, meaning there are areas of improvements needed, some immediate.
