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AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS TO BE IMPLEMENTED

By Erin France/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 11:08 PM CDT

A legislative audit on the city of Pine Bluff questions how funds were handled by a former parks department employee and the city collector’s office. Both matters have been referred to the prosecuting attorney.

Two specific issues — one concerning an already terminated city employee and another about internal controls in the city collector’s office — were raised in Pine Bluff’s legislative audit for the year ending Dec. 31, 2008.

Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr. said both issues are under control.

“We’re heading in the direction that we want to go,” he said.

A Pine Bluff Parks and Recreation Department employee, Raymond Jenkins, was fired in June after an investigation by the department and the Pine Bluff police into allegations that Jenkins cashed checks to pay umpires and kept $630 in funds.

Prosecuting Attorney Steve Dalrymple said his office was looking at the matter.

“No decisions have been made on that,” he said.

The second finding in the legislative audit concerned timing issues and internal controls in the city collector’s office.

“As a matter of fact, some of the recommendations have already been implemented,” said city collector Albert Ridgell.

The audit found $860 of undeposited receipts and $13,297 of unreceipted checks. The checks were later receipted and deposited, the audit states.

Of the $860, Ridgell has paid $357, leaving a balance of $503 due to the city.

Dalrymple said the audit’s findings were procedural in nature and his office likely would not become involved.

Finance director Steve Miller said such internal controls will be improved through the work of the city’s internal auditor, Gina Devers.

“A big part of her work is doing risk assessment,” Miller said.

He also pointed to a proposed change of the city’s financial and accounting systems as helping with such internal controls. The city’s current accounting system is about 30 years old.

Redus said most of the audit’s suggestions would be implemented by Oct. 31 and all would be in place by the end of the year.

He also mentioned the proposed update to the city’s finance management through New World Systems, an integrated database for departmental finances and other considerations.

“It’ll bring us up to the state-of-the-art technology,” Redus said. “It will also help the employees overall to be more productive.”

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