[imc-st.louis] State auditor: information wanted about city waste, fraud

[Fitzdon at aol.com]

Despite what this article from the West End Word says, we prefer that people 
send tips about what should be audited to fitzdon at aol.com or call 
314-727-8554.

http://www.westendword.com/moxie/news/state-auditor-information.shtml

West End Word

State auditor: information wanted about city waste, fraud

By Tim Woodcock
Posted Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The state auditor’s office is asking citizens to step forward with 
information about ways in which the city of St. Louis is wasting resources.

State Auditor Susan Montee’s office is preparing to undertake an audit of 
city finances in response to a petition organized by the Green Party of St. 
Louis. Party organizers collected 7,715 valid signatures, about 500 more than it 
needed to set an audit in motion.

But before the investigation can begin, the auditor’s office must set the 
parameters of the audit, which will be one of the largest the office has 
conducted in recent years.

“We want to hear from anyone who has a concern that there’s something we 
ought to look at,” said Samantha Brewer, a spokesman for the auditor’s office. “
We want to get as much information as we can before we start.”

The earliest the audit would begin is January, and in fact it is likely to be 
30 separate audits of different city departments, Brewer said. Typically, 
areas of interest include transparent documentation of budgets, fair procedures 
for bidding out contracts and the prudent use of public funds.

“We welcome the scrutiny of a state audit,” said Ed Rhode, a spokesman for 
the mayor.

The last time the city underwent a full audit was between 1986 and 1988.

Some departments, including the Board of Election, the sheriff’s office and 
the circuit clerk’s office, have been audited more recently, and they will be 
subject to a follow-up audit focusing on whether or not previous 
recommendations have been followed, Brewer said.

The estimated cost of the audit, which must be covered by the city, is 
between $700,000 and $1 million. The city’s annual budget is around $850 million.

“We always give an estimate of the cost,” Brewer said. “We never charge over 
what the estimate is.”

The audit in the 1980s cost $860,000 and, although inflation will have pushed 
some costs up since then, there will be significant savings because nowadays 
so much of the bookkeeping is computerized, Brewer said.


This audit will be considerably bigger than most state audits, which can be 
handled by a manager and two or three assistants, and not only because of the 
city’s size.

St. Louis’ government has a particularly complex structure, with a set of 
elected office-holders who are not under the mayor’s authority, and workings of 
any of these departments could also be examined, Brewer said. “St. Louis is a 
complete anomaly,” she said.

The number for passing on information to the state auditor’s office is 
800-347-8597.

The impetus for the audit was a probe by the Green Party into how the city 
has been spending childhood lead-poisoning-prevention money from the federal 
government.

“We’ve heard that Housing and Urban Development grant money should have been 
used to repair homes that were later blighted and taken from their owners,” 
said Daniel Romano, an organizer with the Green Party. “We want the audit to 
tell us how much HUD money was supposed to be spent and how much was actually 
spent.”

The Greens are particularly concerned that the federal grant money was not 
spent in a fair way across the city. Whether this is a legitimate issue for the 
audit or not depends on the wording of the city’s grant applications to the 
federal government, Brewer said.






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