Findings have been released in the audit of the Washington County Collector and Property Tax System.
In October 2021, concerns were brought to the attention of the Washington County sheriff regarding fees paid in cash to the county collector’s office for property sales that were not deposited. At the request of the sheriff, the Missouri State Highway Patrol opened an investigation. In June of 22, criminal charges were filed against then County Collector Carla Zettler. Then in November of 22, the County Commission requested the state auditor’s office conduct an audit of the Washington County Collector’s office. On January 23rd, 2023, Zettler, was removed from office and replaced by Kris Richards. The audit said the former County Collector did not record or deposit at least $107,081 in county trustee property sales receipts from the sale of over 1,700 properties from 2018 to 2021. The County Trustee sold most of the properties for $1 plus $99 in fees, for a total of $100 per lot.
Of the total $100 paid per lot, only the $1 collected for the county was recorded, deposited, and distributed by the County Collector’s office. The remaining $99 was held, in cash, in envelopes stored in the cash drawer or vault of the County Collector’s office until distributed. Some of these receipts were likely distributed to the County Collector’s office employees and the County Trustee. Additionally, it was reported that some of the receipts may have been maintained in cash in the County Collector’s office and used for lunches and other petty cash-type disbursements. However, there’s no documentation to support any of these payments. Zettler improperly transferred at least $3,700 from the Tax Maintenance Fund bank account to her personal bank account during 2018 and 2019. In addition, from 2019 to 2022, she made questionable disbursements by check and debit card, totaling just over $3000.
Zettler used proceeds from the county trustee property sales to make questionable and unsupported payments to office employees. The employees received a total of at least $32,500 from 2018 to 2021 for trustee sales. In addition, the compensation per lot paid to the County Trustee significantly exceeded the amount allowed by state law and the county did not issue 1099 forms for the amounts paid to the County Trustee. The County Trustee received at least $23 from each trustee property lot sold, and received at least $39,400 from 2018 to 2021 for trustee sales. Also, the county could not justify to support how the total price for the trustee property lots was determined. Several other questionable issues were found in this state audit which received a poor rating. You can find all the details if you go to the Missouri State Auditor’s website. Zettler faces three money laundering charges, three stealing charges and a charge of official misconduct. She is due back in court on October 28th. For News 1st, I’m Luke Turnboughl.
