BRENTWOOD, MO (KTVI)– The Missouri State Auditor says the city of Brentwood deserves a poor rating on how it handles city finances.
In 2011, Brentwood residents gathered enough petition signatures to request that the Missouri State Auditor take a look at the city’s books.
This followed a guilty plea by the city administrator for embezzling $30,000. Also there were questions of overtime compensation to firefighters and there also have been concerns about charitable giving by the city.
The audit is now out and Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich is releasing details at this hour at a public meeting at the Brentwood Recreation Center.
Among the findings, the city did not maintain adequate documentation for some city credit card purchases, making it difficult to ensure all purchases are appropriate and reasonable.
The city has incurred significant costs over the last 10 years to provide fringe benefits to elected city officials without establishing an ordinance authorizing these benefits.
The city entered into a legal settlement with the firefighters union over excessive overtime payments, but the city has no documentation showing how much excess overtime was charged to the city. Prior to July 2011, fire department employees were not required to complete timesheets.
The audit was also critical of sloppy account keeping for sales tax revenue, not providing documentation on how monthly vehicle allowances were determined for the city administrator and assistant city administrator.
The city says it already is addressing problems pointed out by the audit. But for now the state auditor gave the city of Brentwood a poor rating.