ELSBERRY – Representatives from the state auditor’s office met with citizens and Elsberry’s Board of Aldermen Tuesday in preparation of their citizen-requested audit of the city’s finances.

Alex Prenger and Devin Jackson attended both the public session and part of the closed session as they start the “survey” and “field work” for the audit which will likely be completed by fall.

In July 2024, the Secretary of State office received a citizen petition with 299 signatures requesting the audit, which will cost the city between $55,000-$80,000. State law required 298 signatures, or 15 percent of registered voters.

Considering those attending will be paying up to $100 per household for the audit, Prenger encouraged them to submit concerns for possible inclusion.

“We ask anybody that has any concern they would like us to consider reviewing to try and contact us hopefully within the near future,” Prenger said. “The faster that we get concerns, the faster we can try to implement them inside of our audit and to determine whether they are something that has merit, something that we will review.”

Prenger though said while all concerns will be considered, all won’t be equally investigated.

“But I do want to be very clear, as I believe was communicated during the petition process, this does not mean we will cover every single concern raised to us,” he said. “We operate off of generally accepted government auditing standards … that requires us to perform audits in a pretty particular way where we have to assess risk, review for internal controls, and to make decisions whether the concerns are significant … Broadly, that still gives us responsibility to review and discuss your concerns. It just unfortunately does not mean we can cover 100 percent of them.”

Prenger mentioned specific investigations where requests were made to research 10-15 years worth of activity.

“Those go way beyond the statute of limitations,” he said. “And there may be no documentation that exists for those things. That is at least, I hope, a basic example of something that can be so far beyond and very, very hard to actually review.”

Prenger said there were three specific goals for the audit.

“One is that we will evaluate internal controls over significant management financial functions,” he said. “Two is to review compliance with certain legal provisions. And three is to evaluate the economy and efficiency of certain management practices and procedures, including certain financial transactions.”

In an interview Wednesday morning with The Journal, Elsberry Mayor Steve Wilch said he’s “glad” the audit is officially starting.

“Since it is underway, I welcome it,” he said. “All of us in the government entity of Elsberry, we aren’t trained in this. We are learning as we go. If there is something we can learn that can make it more streamlined and more efficient, we will appreciate it.”

Repeating concerns previously made regarding the cost, Wilch said the board will find a way to manage the expense.

“The expenditure is what’s going to hurt the town, but we will handle it one way or another,” Wilch said.