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VCAD board hears 2014-15 audit report
Nevada Daily Mail
Vernon County Ambulance District's 2014-15 audit took precedence over other business during Thursday night's board meeting as B.G. Wolfe delivered a draft of the audit to the board stating the results were similar to the 2013-14 audit findings.
"I think I talked about what everyone wanted to hear the last time I was here," Wolfe said before giving the board a summary of his findings.
"Suspected misappropriation of district assets in the amount on $93,894 was discovered in the course of audit field work. Manipulation of district books, failure to pay federal and Missouri payroll taxes, checks written and approved by the board and not mailed were discovered, as was failure to record transactions," were listed as an "Extraordinary Item" in the 2013-14 audit draft.
A similar passage in the 2014-15 audit reads, "Suspected misappropriation of District assets in the amount of $115,078 was discovered in the course of audit field work."
The audits for both years listed a number of internal control deficiencies that according to the district's responses in the audit, have been fixed.
"I think that it would be worth your money to hire Mr. Gayman to reconstruct your 2013-14, and 2014-15 books. They are in that bad of shape," Wolfe said.
Gayman told the board he would need to see the records before being able to give an estimate on the cost of reconstructing the accounting records. He estimated that it would take two to three weeks to complete the reconstruction once he had all of the data. He said reconstructing the records would require that every transaction for the past two years be keyed into the computer.
The board voted unanimously to allow Gayman to appraise the material and give an estimate on the cost of reconstructing the accounting data.
In other business, the board received a letter from April Jacobs expressing interest in the board seat left open after James McKenzie declined the position last month. Board member Chris Mason said that the advertisement for the open board seat has only run twice and the allotted four weeks has not passed for interested parties to submit letters to the board. Chairperson Mark Humphrey noted that in the past, decisions regarding appointments to the board were normally tabled until the next meeting to allow the district to verify the candidate's residency and qualifications. The board voted unanimously to table the appointment until the July meeting.
* VCAD director Leland Splitter presented a draft for the 2016-17 budget to the board. Splitter said that the district's worker's compensation insurance premium will be "almost double what it previously was." The increase is due to late and missed payments. Splitter said the exact cost increase would not be known until the insurance policys renewal, which has been pushed back to this fall.
Splitter said billing revenue is expected to increase. He explained the frequency of advanced life support calls, transfers, and direct transports to Joplin have all increased. Average call volume per day has been eight to 10 calls for service, but there have been days with as many as 17 calls for service.
According to Splitter, all of VCAD's ambulances with the exception of Medic 5, the newest, are getting close to having 200,000 miles on the odometer.
Splitter said the loan for Medic 5 will be paid in full this coming April.
Mason said, "It's going to take at least a year to get good data," in reference to VCAD's income and expenditures. The FY 2016-17 budget should be finalized at a noon meeting on June 28.
* The board voted unanimously to approve a 60-month lease for five Phillips monitor/defibrillators at a cost of $1,498.23 per month to replace three aging Lifepak 12 monitor/defibrillators before the manufacturer, Physio-Control, stops supporting and updating them this fall.
* Denise Hopkins reported to the board on training she recently attended. She said there are a number of pending legal mandates that will affect VCAD in the near future. She said the federal government is pressuring the Office of the Inspector General for more audits.
Any person that works or volunteers for VCAD will have to be checked against an "exclusion list." This includes board members. Persons are placed on the exclusion list after having been convicted of certain crimes such as child or elder abuse.
Additionally, VCAD will be required to have established penalties for policy violations.
* Splitter delivered a letter to the board from Dawn Best, a current VCAD employee. Best, a single mother, has received a $5,000 grant towards the $11,000 cost of her paramedic class. Her letter was an application for the Justin Hueston Memorial Scholarship. The board approved her application for the scholarship on the condition of successful completion of the paramedic program and continued employment with VCAD.
* Splitter reported that VCAD responded to 233 calls in May for a total of 1,143 for the year. In May, there were 66 inter-facility transfers and 20 direct transports to Joplin.