HomeMy WebLinkAboutLegal Compliance Report December 31, 1992 O TA UTGES, REDPA TH & CO., LTD.
CERTIFIED PUBL IC A CCOUN TA N TS
To the Honorable Mayor and
Members of the City Council
City of Oak Park Heights, Minnesota
We have audited the general purpose financial statements of the City of Oak Park Heights,
Minnesota, as of and for the year ended December 31, 1992, and have issued our report
thereon dated February 26, 1993.
We conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards;
Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States;
and the provisions of the Minnesota Legal Compliance Audit Guide for Local Government
promulgated by the Legal Compliance Task Force pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Section
6.65. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable
assurance about whether the general purpose financial statements are free of material
misstatement.
General Purpose F inancial Statements
Compliance with laws, regulations, contracts, and grants applicable to the City of Oak Park
Heights, is the responsibility of City's management. As part of our audit, we assessed the
risk that noncompliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grants
could cause the financial statements to be materially misstated. We concluded that the risk
of such material misstatement was sufficiently low that it was not necessary to perform
tests of the City's compliance with such provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and
grants.
However, in connection with our audit, nothing came to our attention that caused us to
believe that the City of Oak Park Heights had not complied, in all material respects, with
the laws, regulations, contracts, and grants referred to in the preceding paragraph.
J&gal Com pliance
The Minnesota Legal Compliance Audit Guide for Local Government covers five main
categories of compliance to be tested:
1) Contracting and Bidding
2) Deposits and Investments
3) Conflicts of Interest
4) Public Indebtedness
5) Claims and Disbursements
Our study included all of the above listed categories. The results of our tests indicate that
for the items tested, the City of Oak Park Heights, Minnesota complied with the material
terms and conditions of applicable legal provisions except as described in this report.
4810 White Bear Parkway • White Bear Lake, Minnesota 55110 • 612/426 -7000 • FAX /426 -5004 • Member of HLB International
City of Oak Park Heights, Minnesota
Legal Compliance Report, Page 2
FINDING: Lack of Endorsement on Claims
CONDMON: The City does not employ a claims system. This is not uncommon for Minnesota
cities. There is a statutory requirement which outlines the disbursing process and
refers to approvals based on a claim system. The City does have alternate
approval mechanisms which provide reasonable assurances that authorized
amounts are disbursed. The lack of claim procedures as referred to in Minnesota
statutes may be considered noncompliance with statutes.
CRITERIA: Minnesota Statute 412.271, Subd. 3 reads as follows:
412.271 DISBURSEMENTS.
Subd. 3. Endorsement on claims. The clerk shall endorse
on each claim required to be audited by the council the word
"disallowed" if such be the fact, or, "allowed in the sum of
$........," if approved in whole or in part, specifying in the latter
case the items rejected Each order shall be drawn that when signed
by the treasurer in an appropriate space, it becomes a check on the
city depository. Such order -check may have printed on its reverse
side, above the space for endorsement thereof by the payee, the
following statement: "The undersigned payee, in endorsing this
order - check, declares that the same is received in payment of a just
and correct claim against the city of ............. and that no part of
such claim has heretofore been paid." When endorsed by the payee
named in the order - check, such statement shall operate and shall be
deemed sufficient as the required declaration of the claim. Any
order presented to the treasurer and not paid for want of funds shall
be so marked and paid in the order of its presentation with interest
from the date of presentation at the rate of five percent or such lower
rate as is fixed by the council prior to its issuance.
RECOMMENDATION:
Our office has requested clarification of this issue from the Office of the State
Auditor regarding the applicability of MS 412.271.
City of Oak Park Heights, Minnesota
Legal Compliance Report, Page 3
Further, for items not tested, based on our audit and the procedures referred to above, nothing
came to our attention to indicate that the City of Oak Park Heights, Minnesota had not complied
with such legal provisions.
This report is intended solely for the use of the City of Oak Park Heights, Minnesota and should
not be used for any other purpose. This restriction is not intended to limit the distribution of this
report which is a matter of public record.
Respectfully submitted,
TAUTGES, REDPATH & CO., LTD.
Certified Public Accountants
February 26, 1993