If there is one thing local government in Missouri needs more of, it is audits.
I don’t mean Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs), or the Distinguished Budget Award that seemingly every city under the sun gets.
I mean an audit. The type of audit that gives people nightmares and, presumably, makes them more careful in their accounting and reporting out of fear.
In recent years, we have seen plenty of examples of failed accounting procedures in local government. There have been outright thefts, failures to competitively bid contracts, plenty of conflicts of interest and cronyism, and much more. I don’t think that politicians and bureaucrats in Missouri are less honest than in other states, but I do think that the huge number of small municipalities and other special taxing districts in our state gives them more opportunities for varying degrees of corruption.
We have seen local auditors who totally failed to do their jobs. Seriously, check out these links to the St. Louis County auditor’s page and be amazed at how few audits the office has actually performed over the past decade.
There is a bill in Jefferson City that expands the ability of the state auditor to preemptively begin audits of local governments when there is evidence of problems. Currently, the auditor needs to be invited by local officials or receive a petition from citizens. The former isn’t always done by local officials—for obvious reasons—and the latter can be time consuming and difficult.
This proposal, which is now on the governor’s desk, is an excellent one. It would benefit the taxpayers of our state.
Would it make local officials and bureaucrats nervous? I certainly hope so.
