Findings of 2010 City of Evansville Audit by State Board of Accounts

ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION (City)

The Executive Director of the Department of Metropolitan Development received a salary of $71,183.79 from the City for the year 2010. He also, by contractual agreement, received an additional amount in excess of $40,000 from a non-profit agency. That non-profit agency has a contractual arrangement to provide services to the City. The City Council did not approve the additional compensation. The City of Evansville Employee Handbook states that, “An employee may not receive any payment, fees, services, vacations, or other unusual favors from any person or business organization that does or seeks to do business with the City.” It also states that, “A conflict of interest occurs when an employee’s private interest interferes or even appears to interfere in any way with the interest of the City.” The Executive Director salary paid from the City was increased in 2011 and the payment from the non-profit agency was discontinued which corrects the situation.

Each governmental unit is responsible for complying with the ordinances, resolutions, and policies it adopts. (Accounting and Uniform Compliance Guidelines Manual for Cities and Towns, Chapter 7)
Indiana Code 36-4-7-3(b) states in part: “Subject to the approval of the city legislative body, the city executive shall fix the compensation of each appointive officer, deputy, and other employee of the city. . . .”

Indiana Code 36-7-14-23 states: “Each officer of the unit who has duties in respect to the funds and accounts of the unit shall perform the same duties with respect to the funds and accounts of the department of redevelopment, except as otherwise provided in this chapter. An officer performing these duties is not entitled to any compensation in addition to that paid him by the unit.”
FEES CHARGED FOR COPIES (City)

The Evansville City/Vanderburgh County Central Dispatch Department charged one dollar per page for copies of run cards during the years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. The fee was greater
than allowed by Indiana Code 5-14-3-8. On October 28, 2010, the policy was revised and the Evansville City/ Vanderburgh County Central Dispatch Department started charging ten cents per page.
The fee for copying documents may not exceed the greater of: (1) ten cents per page for copies that are not color copies and twenty-five cents per page for color copies; or (2) the actual cost of copying the document. (IC 5-14-3-8) (Cities and Towns Bulletin and Uniform Compliance Guidelines, June 2009,

ANNUAL REPORT

The Annual Report filed for the year 2010 was incorrect. Three funds were included that were not City funds and the proceeds and expenditure of two bond issues were not included in the receipts and disbursements. The total receipts, total disbursements and total ending balance were materially overstated.

Indiana Code 5-3-1-3(a) states in part: “Within sixty (60) days after the expiration of each
calendar year, the fiscal officer of each civil city and town in Indiana shall publish an annual report of the
receipts and expenditures of the city or town . . .”

BUY MONEY – POLICE (City)

As stated in several prior audit reports, the City Council has not passed an ordinance allowing the buy money program and the related expenditures. The following procedure, among others, should be followed if a municipality wishes to obtain an appropriation and make expenditures for buy money or payments to informants:

Under Indiana Code 36-1-3, an ordinance should be passed allowing this type of program and associated expenditures. (Cities and Towns Bulletins September 2004, Page 9)

PARKING METER FEES (City)

As stated in several prior reports, parking meter fees are deposited into the General Fund instead of a special fund. Indiana Code 36-9-12-4(a) states: “A municipality must provide, by ordinance, that: (1) All license fees collected from parking meters shall be deposited with the municipal fiscal officer; (2) the fees shall be deposited to the credit of the municipality in a special fund; and (3) disbursements from the special fund may be made only on orders of the municipal works board, or board of transportation and only for the purposes listed in subsection (b).”

SEPARATE BANK ACCOUNTS (City, Water and Wastewater Utilities)

As stated in several prior reports, Evansville Water Utility funds, Evansville Wastewater Utility funds and Vanderburgh County Solid Waste District funds were accounted for in the bank account of the City of Evansville. A single bank account should be provided for all city or town funds, separate bank accounts for the funds belonging to each utility, and possibly a separate bank account for other funds if required by ordinance or regulation. Some bond ordinances and federal regulations require separate bank accounts for various funds and must be followed. Funds of other entities held by the city or town’s fiscal officer must be accounted for in separate bank accounts. (Accounting and Uniform Compliance Guidelines Manual for Cities and Towns, Chapter 1)

CONTRACTS (City)

The City entered into a contract with SMG, effective January 1, 2006, to manage Roberts Stadium, Victory Theater, and Mesker Music Theater. The contract required an independent audit of SMG. An addendum to the contract was added on September 5, 2007, amending the contract from requiring an audit to requiring a review. As of June 27, 2011, a review had not been completed for the years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.

Payments made or received for contractual services should be supported by a written contract. Each governmental unit is responsible for complying with the provisions of its contracts. (Accounting and Uniform Compliance Guidelines Manual for Cities and Towns, Chapter 7)

INTERNAL CONTROLS – ALLOWABLE COSTS (City)

The City had insufficient controls to monitor compliance with OMB Circular A-87, “Cost Principles for State, Local, and Indian Tribal Governments” concerning allocation of salaries to be paid from federal grants. The salaries paid to most of the Department of Metropolitan Development Employees were charged to the Community Development Block Grant for work performed that was not documented to meet allowability criteria for activities permitted under the grant.

Governmental units should have internal controls in effect which provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial information and records, effectiveness and efficiency of operations, proper execution of management’s objectives, and compliance with laws and regulations. Among other things, segregation of duties, safeguarding controls over cash and all other assets and all forms of information processing are necessary for proper internal control. (Accounting and Uniform Compliance Guidelines Manual for Cities and Towns, Chapter 7)

OVERDRAWN CASH BALANCES (City)

The cash balance of the General Fund, Park District Bond Fund, Redevelopment Bond Fund, Sewer Payroll Fund, Sports Fund, Home Investment Trust Fund, Community Development Block Grant Fund, Continum Care Fund, Police Narcotics Fund, Emergency Shelter Grant Fund, Water Utility – Other #13 Fund, Accounts Payable #1 Fund and Payroll #2 Fund were overdrawn in 2010. The cash balance of any fund may not be reduced below zero. Routinely overdrawn funds could be an indicator of serious financial problems which should be investigated by the governmental unit. (Accounting and Uniform Compliance Guidelines Manual for Cities and Towns, Chapter 7)