Audit critical of food, phone costs

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The lack of official policies on providing food for state employees and the use of the state's cellular phones leads to an inefficient -- and in some cases inappropriate -- use of taxpayer resources, according to State Auditor Claire McCaskill.

During a Monday news conference, McCaskill discussed two audits recently released by her office. One audit concerns food expenditures and the other cell phone use.

Development of state guidelines related to both issues is already planned as a result of the audit.

According to the first audit, state agencies spent $10.6 million during fiscal years 1999 and 2000 on food for non-traveling workers. Some of those expenditures may have been legitimate, McCaskill said, but the lack of a clear policy on when it is appropriate to buy meals for employees casts doubt on the spending.

While the amount of money spent on food is small in the context of the overall state budgets for those years, McCaskill said it reveals an area where the state can be more thrifty.

"If we are trying to find ways to deliver state services for the least amount of money possible, it seems like this is a place to look to save some money," McCaskill said.

Meals at meetings

The audit did not examine reimbursements for food purchased by employees traveling on state business, but for meals provided to employees in the workplace or at restaurants in the cities in which they are based.

Many state agencies schedule meetings during the lunch hour and in turn provide food for employees, the audit found. That practice should be curtailed, McCaskill said.

"Having a meeting over lunch should not mean that the taxpayers pick up lunch," McCaskill said.

Following the audit's recommendation, the Office of Administration will draft guidelines to be followed by all state departments concerning food purchases.

Ironically, McCaskill cited the Office of Administration as having committed the most egregious abuse in her opinion.

During June 2000, the Office of Administration paid $60 to a winery in Hermann so three Jefferson City-based officials could have a private lunch. An Office of Administration representative said the meeting had to be held off of state property because sensitive personnel matters were being discussed.

"There are plenty of restaurants in Jefferson City that afford lots of privacy and certainly there is no reason why the state should pay for the lunch," McCaskill said.

Office of Administration Commissioner Mike Hartmann said the luncheon, which took place under his predecessor, shouldn't have been charged to the state.

"I would not have approved that expenditure," Hartmann said. "I agree that is an expense the state need not have incurred."

Guidelines planned

Hartmann said an interagency team will be established to review the audit's findings and develop a policy on expenditures for meals.

"We will take the recommendations from the team, analyze them and attempt to establish a policy state agencies can work with and that meets the state auditor's recommendations," Hartmann said.

Tthere is no set timetable for developing and implementing the polices, he said.

The second audit found that for fiscal year 2000 the state spent $2.5 million on cellular telephone costs. While not citing a specific dollar figure, McCaskill said the state departments could save money by frequently reviewing cell phone calling plans.

Among the audit's findings:

Employees aren't well-matched to calling plans. Some workers who spend a significant amount of time on a cell phone had plans with few "free" minutes, while those who seldom used their phones in some cases had plans with a high number of minutes.

Some agencies couldn't account for the whereabouts of phones for which they were paying.

Billing errors go unquestioned.

There are no procedures for restricting personal use of state cell phones.

"As a result, we were paying thousands of dollars -- tens of thousands of dollars -- more than we should have for cell phone usage in the state of Missouri," McCaskill said.

The Office of Administration will also craft guidelines for state cell phone use and the purchase of calling plans as a result of the audit.

mpowers@semissourian.com

(573) 635-4608