Audit says Higbee Fire bond issue needs to be put back on ballot; former Randolph County Sheriff received $22,000 in overpayments
Ryan Shiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Randolph County received a “poor” rating in an audit by the state auditor’s office after the review turned up “numerous mistakes” made by the county clerk’s office.
The auditor’s office announced on Thursday that the clerk failed to comply with state law, which will require the Higbee Fire Protection District to put a bond issue up to voters for a third time.
The clerk made “made numerous errors when reporting the assessed valuation of each taxing jurisdiction, and may have caused the county to collect excessive property taxes,” a press release says.
When the Higbee Fire Protection District tried to register the bonds with the auditor’s office, the office determined the August and November elections did not comply with state law because sample ballots were not published.
Higbee FPD asked for a bond measure twice last year, which was approved by voters both times. An August release from HFPD said a clerical error led to the wrong amount being put on the August ballot and required a new vote.
“This audit has revealed serious failures within the County Clerk’s Office that need to be addressed immediately. A lack of understanding of how to carry out the duties of the office has caused significant errors in assessed valuation totals for every taxing district in the county, and will force taxpayers to pay for a third election to approve bonds to be issued for the Higbee Fire Protection District due to failing to properly notify voters. These kinds of mistakes simply can’t happen, but because they did, our report gives the office a set of recommendations that, if followed, will prevent such egregious errors from happening again,” Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick said in the release.
The audit also found that County Clerk Terri Maddox reported incorrect assessed valuation totals for the 2024 tax year.
Overpayment of sheriff
The audit also states that the County Commission authorized mid-term salary increases to the sheriff totaling $42,804, in violation of constitutional provisions and state law. Aaron Wilson was the sheriff in 2024.
The audit says the county clerk said the commission “believed it was required to increase the Sheriff’s salary due to the change in state law. The County Commission did not seek a written legal opinion on this matter; however, the County Clerk did discuss the issue with an attorney and the issue of a mid-term salary increase was mentioned.”
It states that the sheriff received $22,343 in excess compensation.
“Because the salary increase was greater than $10,000, the amount should have been paid in 5 annual installments. However, the County Commission increased the rate of pay for the sheriff 6 times between March 2022 and July 2024 as detailed in Appendix A,” the audit states.
Wilson denies he was overpaid.
“SB510 repealed the mid-term pay stating it was constitutional and allowed. The county commission did everything correct per statute,” Wilson wrote in a text message to an ABC 17 News reporter.
Other issues found through the audit included the public administrator not filing 10 settlements within a timely manner, the commission not complying with Sunshine Law by not adequately documenting closed meetings and that the county is without a records management policy with electronic compliance with the Missouri Secretary of State Records Services Division.