Audit says mistakes were made in Waterloo’s city finances

The state’s released what its “re-audit” found after a citizen’s group petitioned it to review the books of the town of Waterloo. State auditor Warren Jenkins says among questionable items were travel policies and the use of city credit cards.He says their policies all had room for improvement but the city’s doing things to improve. Jenkins says part of the problem was not enforcing city policies already in place, especially in the use of a city credit card.Also investigated were claims that city credit cards were used to buy things not allowed by city policy, things like computers and airplane tickets.He says the city’s been advised to see if software and other goods purchased with the city plastic are accounted for and being used for city-government purposes. Another charge was that the city’s used the same contractor for years of street projects.When bids are close, he says using a different contractors would show the city’s fair about giving all a chance. The contractor bids, purchases with city credit cards, and travel expenses over official limits made up most of the complaints. The state auditor’s report contains lots of recommendations for better spending oversight, but can’t include any disciplinary actions.