Audit- St. Louis lost millions from late paperwork

ST. LOUIS -- Late paperwork cost the St. Louis City Department of Health $207,000 in federal funds for HIV and AIDS services, an audit showed Friday.

Failure to meet reimbursement deadlines nearly forced the city to forfeit an additional $3 million.

The city hired an accounting firm to look at the department and suggest ways to improve financial practices. The report released Friday documented shoddy bookkeeping, undeposited checks and unprocessed invoices.

The city says the problems have mostly been fixed.

The federal government denied compensation to the health department because of the missed deadlines, forcing the city to pay for the services.

The accounting firm also found that 40 of the 44 annual federal grants that provide the health department with $12 million did not meet state reporting requirements. This could have jeopardized receipt of further monies.