State auditors to review city records

The people have spoken. At least some of them have.

In the past few months there has been a petition circulating around town calling for a state compliance audit for the city of Nevada, at an estimated cost in the range of $16,000 to $24,000. In total, 521 signatures were raised, with 472 verified as registered voters by the county clerk.

The city goes through a general audit, performed by Daniels and Associates, and accounting firm, each year, but the last time the city had a state audit was in 1989.

While not necessarily unconcerned about the audit, City Manager Craig Hubler is taking the event in stride. "It's just part of the business," he said. What Hubler is disappointed about is the cost to the city. Besides the amount of up to $24,000 that will go directly to the state auditors officer there will also be an estimated $40,000 cost in city manpower and resources as they prepare for the audit.

Hubler feels that what is important to remember about an audit -- even one from the state auditor -- is that it is not like a grand jury inquest. If there is some sort of problem the ultimate decision to make changes lies with the city council.

"Perhaps this will be an opportunity for us to improve what we are doing," said Hubler.

However, Hubler doesn't foresee the audit turning up anything beyond business as usual and said that the city takes is financial responsibilities very seriously.

"We are proud of our finances," said Hubler.

One of the distributors of the petition, Joe Kraft, was pleased with the successful call for a city audit.

"It's the democratic process being exercised," he said. Kraft feels that enough voters were concerned about the financial practices of the city that they deemed it necessary to spend the money to delve into the expenditures and budget of the city. "If there's anything wrong let's correct it. If there's nothing wrong we will go on down the road," said Kraft.

As of yet, there has been no official date released for the audit. Tom Cramer, Director of Local Government Audits for the Missouri State Auditor, said, "It's just on hold until staff is available to come down and do the audit."