State Auditor Mary Mosiman says in the past 12 months her staff has been called in to review the financial records of 18 Iowa cities and local governments. “Sometimes they’re one person handling all financial transactions — both the revenue side and the expenditure side, with very little oversight,” Mosiman says. “I think it’s well worth the time and resources of this office to investigate and report on these.” Mosiman advises all cities — no matter how small — to have a system in place so financial transactions are checked by at least one other person.

Mosiman says the state-run pension systems in Iowa are in far better shape than pension plans in some other states.”We talk sometimes about the unfunded liability, but comparing us to other states, we’re in a good place and our General Assembly, the governor’s office, they reacted a few years ago,” Mosiman says.

In 2010, Iowa lawmakers raised the contribution rates for employees paying into the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System and adjusted how pension payouts were calculated. There are more than 200 state-run pension systems in the United States. Those systems had a nearly one TRILLION dollar funding gap in 2013 according to a national report.

(Radio Iowa)