NATCHEZ &045;&045; An audit of Adams County finances conducted for fiscal 2001-2002 by the State Auditor’s Office showed problems ranging from incomplete reporting of circuit clerk’s fees to improperly recording interfund loans.

However, county officials noted in a written response to the audit that most of those problems have already been corrected. County Administrator Charles Brown could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

The county faces no fines or other penalties, according to the State Auditor’s Office.

The audit revealed that:

With reference to the Circuit Clerk’s Office, documentation was not provided for many of the expenses in the journal, which resulted in the expenses being disallowed.

Some of the documentation provided was not allowable under guidelines of the State Auditor’s Office, which led to expenses being overstated by $56,637 in the office’s fee report for 2002.

&uot;We’ve run into that in several counties,&uot; said Rodney Zeagler, director of the Financial and Compliance Audit Division.

That is because some expenses allowed under accounting guidelines are not allowed by the state’s more stringent guidelines, Zeagler said.

Vines said he actually went over and above the state auditor’s guidelines when the discrepancies were pointed out.

For example, some advertising expenses were not allowed, so Vines then chose not to deduct any ad expenses. &uot;I chose to pay back all the advertising myself, to not allow any of it,&uot; Vines said.

Some office and other expenses, such as coffee and doughnuts for jurors, were also not allowed, Vines said.

Zeagler said that, as of Thursday, he could not cite specifics on the expenses in question because those papers were located not in Jackson, but in the agency’s south Mississippi office.

September 2002 fees were not posted to the circuit clerk’s fee journal, resulting in a $11,713 understatement of fee income.

That adds up to $68,350, an amount Vines’ office paid to the county in June.

Vines will not accessed any fines, said Rodney Zeagler, director of the Financial and Compliance Audit Division. &uot;We just make sure the money’s been paid, that’s all,&uot; Zeagler said.

Other findings include some funds not being deposited into, and some expenses not being paid out of, the office’s fee account; inadequate descriptions on deposit tickets; and revenue and expense items on the office’s fee report not agreeing with its fee journal.

In addition, state law places a $83,160 cap on fee revenues taken in by the Circuit Clerk’s Office. Revenues over that amount go into the county’s general fund.

The audit noted that a check for one such payment, due April 15 of this year, was held by the county until April 30 due to insufficient funds.

In his response to the State Auditor’s Office, Vines said he will provide documentation on expenses to the state and that &uot;procedures have been corrected and the journal will be maintained as required by state law.&uot;

The Board of Supervisors did not record salary amounts and salary changes for county employees in its minutes &045;&045; something the county, in its response, said will be done in the future when county budgets are adopted.

In addition, the State Auditor’s Office found that the county has interfund loans that are more than one year old. The Board of Supervisors should record the reason for the loan, a repayment schedule and the source of funds for repayment, the auditor’s report stated. County officials stated that the board will now record all interfund loans in its minutes and that all interfund loans will be repaid &uot;within the fiscal year or no later than the following year.&uot;

With regards to inventory control, the report noted that some fixed assets were incorrectly classified (a problem also noted in last year’s audit) or not given a value, problems county officials said in their response have already been fixed. The report also stated that funds from a Mississippi Victims of Crime grant were not accounted for in the county’s accounting records &045;&045; which has since been corrected, according to the county.

The report stated that the District Attorney’s Office had purchased items for the grant with requisitioning them, but those requisitions are now being made through the county’s central purchasing system.

The auditor’s report stated that the Adams County Sheriff’s Office failed to document leave hours for each employee.

However, the sheriff’s office, in its report, noted that court cases have shown the 40-hour work week does not apply for law enforcement personnel. Instead, they are to work 172 hours in a 28-day period. Still, time sheets &uot;are recorded and fully auditable,&uot; the sheriff’s reply stated.