ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) - An outside auditor is raising questions about the way St. Louis County officials are handling money.

That firm is Kerber, Eck and Braeckel, and its report put the spotlight on contingency funds maintained by the County Executive, County Councilor and Police Department. At issue are account balances that aren’t reported on the County’s year-end financial statements, and aren’t monitored by the treasurer. It recommends establishing a procedure to track where the money goes.

In the report, the county responds that it has been telling the County Council, which approves the funds, what’s going on, but states it will create a policy of recording the year-end balance.

The audit report also questions why checks the county Circuit Clerk and Collector of Revenue issued more than six months ago have never been cashed or reconciled.  These checks total more than $170,000. 

The County responds that it agrees the outstanding checks should be investigated.

This comes about six months after an internal audit found $120,000 worth of grant money that had been sitting in a park’s department bank account for decades.

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