For Immediate Release
Date: June 16, 2005
Contact: Maura Browning
Phone: (573) 751-8222
Director of Revenue chastises State Auditor on entry and presence at private business
JEFFERSON CITY – In a letter to State Auditor Claire McCaskill today, Missouri Department of Revenue Director Trish Vincent chastised the Auditor on her Office’s entry and conduct this afternoon at a private business in Jefferson City. Three state auditors gained unauthorized access to the contract office at 1617 Southridge Drive while the contract agent made preparations to reopen the office on Monday.
“The citizens of this state should be outraged that their State Auditor walked into a private business and began taking what appeared to be inventory of a business owner’s office equipment,” Vincent said.
The Jefferson City branch office closed at the end of business Wednesday, June 15. Gary Wilbers, the agent contracted to operate the license office, was working Thursday to ready the office to reopen on Monday morning. After the office closed yesterday, state office equipment was moved from the Southridge Drive location to the Truman Building.
“I can’t express enough how shocked I was that the State Auditor’s Office was in my new place of business taking inventory of my equipment,” Wilbers said. “Frankly, I didn’t understand why state auditors were looking at my office equipment, so I called the department.”
Wilbers took over the office’s lease beginning today, June 16.
The text of Vincent’s letter to the State Auditor is copied below:
June 16, 2005 BY HAND DELIVERY
The Honorable Claire McCaskill
Auditor of the State of Missouri
State Capitol Building, Room 224
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Dear Auditor McCaskill:
I am writing to express my dismay at today’s unannounced appearance of three members of your staff at the office of a private Contract Agent of the Department of Revenue at 1617 Southridge Drive, Jefferson City.
The Southridge Office was closed as a branch office of the Department yesterday. Much of the Department’s equipment and fixed assets were moved last night, and the state property in the office today was mainly of low value awaiting salvage. The Department no longer has possession of the 1617 Southridge premises. Pursuant to the Agreement between the Department and the Contract Agent, the office is in the control of a private citizen who will be reopening the office to the public as advertised on Monday, June 20 as a Contract Agent. As I understand the facts, your staff was told it was inventorying private property, and continued to do so. Thus, the effect of your staff’s actions was to knowingly audit a private citizen. My understanding is that your staff had to be asked to leave by the Contract Agent’s representative.
I see no authority in Chapter 29 of the Missouri Revised Statutes for your office to enter and inventory private property. In addition to the legal question, the presence of your staff and the effect of making it more difficult for the Contract Agent to do the necessary work to re-open the office as soon as possible for the citizens of Missouri.
Even if your office was under the mistaken belief that the Southridge Office was under the control of the state, I still see no basis for an unannounced appearance to inventory assets. As I have previously written you on February 4, Sections 7.39 and 7.40 of the Comptroller General’s Government Auditing Standards (2003) require that an auditor provide the audited entity with the scope of the audit beforehand. Clearly, this was not done in this case.
I hope we can work together to jointly be good stewards of the taxpayer’s dollars. Today’s unannounced appearance on private property does not promote that objective. I respectfully ask you to refrain from such appearances in the future.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Trish Vincent
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