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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLegal Compliance December 31, 1993 #TAUTG7ES, EDPA TH & CO., LTD. CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS 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, 1993, and have issued our report thereon dated February 18, 1994. 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 Pumo5e Financial Staxementa. Compliance with laws, regulations, contracts, and grants applicable to the City of Oak Park Heights, Minnesota 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, Minnesota had not complied, in all material respects, with the laws, regulations, contracts, and grants referred to in the preceding paragraph. LgLyal Compliance. The Minnesota Legal Compliance Audit Guide for Local Government covers five main categories of compliance to be tested: contracting and bidding, deposits and investments, conflicts of interest, public indebtedness, and 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. 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 18, 1994 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 Endors ement on Claims CONDITION: 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 in part 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... RECOMMENDATION: Our office has requested clarification of this issue from the Office of the State Auditor regarding the applicability of MS 412.271.