City to review ‘07 audit

The local accounting firm Kennedy McKee has given the city of Dodge City a clean financial audit for fiscal year 2007 and suggested some changes for better internal control.
    In performing the audit, Kennedy McKee reviewed all city funds, including the "Why Not Dodge" sales tax fund. The firm noted that some material adjustments to the general ledger were written and posted during the audit, and some were proposed to correct the ledger at the end of fieldwork.
    The firm said that detail listings of capital assets from which to record changes in assets and accumulated depreciation were incomplete, and accounts payable were not recorded long enough after the year's end, leaving  many unrecorded liabilities, according to a management letter to the city.
    "We recommend that all adjustments be posted to the general ledger in a timely manner," the letter said. "This process would include a review of the general ledger for corrections to be made, an examination of board minutes, capital leases and other sources for capital asset additions and a review of payments made for several months subsequent to year end."
    Kennedy McKee also noted that several subsidiary ledgers had not been reconciled to the general ledger as of Dec. 31, 2006, but that those reconciliations had been done as of Dec. 31, 2007.
    City Clerk Nannette Pogue said that the firm did not find any major problems in FY 2007 but did recommend some minor bookkeeping changes.
    The Dodge City Commission will review the audit during a work session at 6:15 p.m. today, then formally accept it during the commission's regular meeting.
    In other business, the commission will:
    • Consider an ordinance changing the length of time that large trucks may be parked on city streets.
    Under the ordinance, owner/operators may park their trucks on city streets for up to two hours. Previously, trucks could be parked for up to 24 hours.
    Pogue said it was difficult for police to enforce the old rule, since they could not easily monitor trucks for 24 hours to determine whether they had been in the same spot for the entire time or had moved. She also said the old rule did not prevent truck owners from driving their vehicles home from work and parking them on the street each night.
    • Amend the city's bond agreement with Kimbroy Properties to reflect a change in the original bond from a fixed rate to an adjustable rate.
    The agreement came about because the city had agreed to issue industrial revenue bonds for the Best Western Country Inn and Suites. The rate change altered the entire bond, which meant the city had to amend the agreement.

Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.