NATCHEZ &045; The city is taking steps to keep better track of where the money goes and to keep better records of the property it already has, City Clerk Donnie Holloway said Tuesday.

Holloway’s comments were made following a Tuesday meeting of the Board of Aldermen in which auditor Billy Gillon said the city must, among other things, keep better track of its fixed assets.

There has been &uot;inadequate keeping of records&uot; with regards to such city property, Gillon said.

Gillon found that about 90 percent of city-owned buildings aren’t included in the city’s ledger, which lists properties and their valuations. Several parcels listed in the ledger have no valuation listed.

Some additions to the ledger could not be reconciled with other city records and didn’t contain all the needed information. In addition, some deletions could not be traced to approval in the aldermen’s minutes.

In addition, auditors found that fixed assets that weren’t property recorded included some assets bought with federal funds.

Gillon recommended that the city assign an employee to keep its fixed asset ledger and to update and reconcile it monthly.

In fact, the city has already done that by transferring an employee from another department, Holloway said.

&uot;The fixed asset problem Š has been in (the city’s annual audit) for 10 years,&uot; Gillon said.

One of the reasons the city has not been able to correct such problems is that the cost of appraising properties is too high.

&uot;We were looking at $100,000 just to do appraisals,&uot; Holloway said.

But the same employee that was transferred in to handle fixed assets can also do appraisals, although the employee is not licensed to do so, he said.

Gillon also found that:

4The city has inadequate controls over its disbursements, or expenditures.

Problems include checks without supporting invoices, invoices with no signatures or approvals for payment and invoices that were not shown as paid. In addition, the report said, travel advances and reimbursements procedures were not adequate or consistent.

In their written response, city officials said they are evaluating their internal controls to see what changes can be made.

4Several cash accounts are not being recorded on the city’s general ledger.

&uot;City employees are maintaining these cash accounts by making deposits and writing checks under their signature,&uot; the report stated. &uot;All invoices and/or receipts could not be provided Š to account for these monies. These expenditures are not recorded on the docket, not following state purchasing laws, (and) not being handled by bonded employees.&uot;

All accounts will either be closed or recorded on the city’s general ledger, city officials said in their written answer. And the city is taking steps to make sure its employees are adequately bonded, Gillon said.

4Grant reports aren’t being reconciled with the city’s general ledger, a problem that &uot;could harm the city’s ability to get future grants,&uot; Gillon said.

Directors have been notified to reconcile such grant reports to the ledger as quickly as possible, city officials said.