Audits of two city depts: cut costs, better bookkeeping

By Casey Nolen

KSDK -- The findings of two state audits of St. Louis city departments were released Thursday, one an audit of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, the other of the Department of Public Safety.

For the past two years, the State Auditor's office has crunched numbers and tried to make sense of the books of every department in the City of St. Louis.

"The bank records are in shambles," said State Auditor Susan Montee of the Department of Public Safety, citing the problems at the city jail.

Just biding time in an account, the audit found nearly $60,000 belonging to inmates that should have been returned to them upon their release. In addition, the audit revealed poor bookkeeping.

"When you pull the records and you say, 'According to your books, you owe $600,000 to various individuals and liability accounts. What are those?' They weren't able to do it," she said to reporters Thursday at a news conference.

"I think its one of the things that you have to do. You have to get audited," said Charles Bryson, the City's Director of Public Safety, who also attended the news conference to answer questions.

"You have to understand where some of the holes are in your system so you can make it better," said Bryson.

As for Lambert Airport, Montee suggested more could be done to be more competitive.

"The problem here is that the airport has a higher cost relative to its peers," she said.

Airport officials said in their response to the audit they will examine the possibility of lowering costs which could lead to attracting new carriers.

One way the airport could save nearly $2 million, the audit says, is to close one of its three fire stations. Two is all the FAA requires but the decision lies with the fire department.

"There are a lot of different complex issues involved," said Bryson of the decision of whether or not to close the third station.

"This can not be just on dollars and cents. It must be on safety for the residents of that area as well as those people who go through the terminal," Bryson said.

The audits are part of a city wide audit of all departments -- brought on by a citizens' initiative two years ago.

The audit a lot of people are waiting to hear is the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department's audit. The results of that audit are expected next Tuesday.

A total of seven more audits are still to be released.