The bill for the state-petitioned audit of the City of Rolla and Rolla Municipal Utilities has been received, and it falls within the estimate offered by Auditor Susan Montee’s office now about two years ago.

The audit cost $23,993.18, within the margins of $16,000 to $24,000 given petitioners Tracey Watson and Donna Hawley years ago when they began their quest for the report.

City Administrator John Butz, upon receiving word the cost fell within the estimate, moved to request the cost of the audit be shared between the city and RMU.

In an e-mail to Acting RMU General Manager Rodney Bourne, Butz said the city has budgeted $15,000 for the audit and requested RMU reimburse the city for it’s half of the bill.

“We received the bill for the State Audit (Tuesday) – a total of $23,993.18,” Butz writes. “I believe we had $15,000 budgeted for same (presuming we would split the audit w/ RMU). We’ll pay the total bill, but Rodney can you take up the matter of 50 percent reimbursement w/ your Board? I’ll forward a copy of same.”

Calls early Thursday to Butz’ office for further comment were not returned by early press time, as a result of the holiday.

In a subsequent call Thursday to RMU for comment from Bourne or Finance Director Dennis Roberts a reporter was told neither was available for comment.

The amount billed the city is less than half of the amount it cost to perform the audit.

A little more than a month before the report was released, Alice Fast, the director of government audits in Montee’s office, told the Rolla Daily News the cost was $52,500, and “it could go higher... That figure is only through March,” Fast said at the time.

Fast indicated cost could go as high as $60,000 for time state officials spent performing the field audit here in Rolla and time spent back in Jefferson City. Additionally, city and RMU financial officials recorded time with the state auditors, thus bringing the “real cost” to more than $100,000.

On Thursday, Montee’s office would not comment on the “real cost” of the audit, saying only the city would be billed the $23,993.18.

However, Allison Bruns, director of communications for Montee’s office, said the “real cost” of the audit was more aligned with what Fast told the RDN in March and that the Auditor’s Office is reviewing its audit estimating practices in light of the Rolla audit.

“The State Auditor’s Office cannot go on eating the ‘real cost’ of these audits,” Bruns said. “We also cannot, with good conscience, bill a city for twice what we estimated the cost of an audit.

“Because of this, we are meeting to review the estimating process to make it more in line with actual costs. We are aware two years has past since that estimate was given, but this has now happened more than once, and the State Auditor said we will address this,” Bruns said.

For her part, Montee, on May 12 when she delivered the audit at the Eugene Northern Center, told those attending the bill for the report would be more in line of the figures quoted Watson and Hawley, a fact that pleased Hawley.

“Ms. Montee’s decision to keep the Rolla state audit costs within the petition estimates shows her incredible commitment to accountability in government,” Hawley said.

“The state audit report revealed many policies that the City and RMU need to improve to make them fully compliant with state laws and accounting standards. If the City Council were to heed Ms. Montee’s warnings and abide by her full recommendations in the State Audit report, Rolla citizens would save, through reduced fees and taxes, more than enough each year to cover the cost many times over.”

The state audit reports — both the City/RMU and the City Court — can be found online at the City of Rolla Web site or through the Missouri State Auditor’s Web page, and Hawley urged residents to familiarize themselves with the findings.

“In addition to the online sources, there is a copy at the Rolla Public Library and additional copies for people to take home in the Rolla City Clerk’s office in City Hall,” she said. “I hope that everyone reads the Missouri State Audit report because meaningful change in local government starts with well-informed voters.”

The audit, which began 13 months ago, was initiated by a petition of 752 registered voter signatures sought by Hawley and Watson.

For eight months, a varying team of two to three auditors conducted field audits here in Rolla and those auditors have been poring through documents as they prepared their final analysis.

The entire process, from seeking petitioned signatures to the completion of the audit was 23 months.