Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway Archives

Parson: Missourians waiting for tax returns mostly filed extensions or have tax issues

January 20, 2020 By Missourinet Contributor

State Auditor Nicole Galloway

Thousands of Missourians are still waiting for their 2018 tax returns. State Auditor Nicole Galloway is blaming dysfunction in the Parson administration and at the State Revenue Department.

“Taxpayers deserve assurances that this dysfunction will not carry over into another tax year. Missourians rely on their refunds to pay bills and afford necessities. They are tired of excuses,” Galloway says in a written statement.

Gov. Mike Parson tells Missourinet affiliate KSSZ in Columbia that his administration is aware some Missourians still have not gotten their returns. But he says the small number of taxpayers waiting mostly filed for extensions in October, or have issues with their taxes.

Gov. Mike Parson

“There’s nobody trying to hold up tax returns here in the state of Missouri,” says Parson. “For us, it makes no sense to do that. We want to get it out so we can clear up the books and go to the next side.”

Parson, a Republican, says Galloway, a Democrat, is just trying to score political points.

“We’ve been watching that issue,” says Parson. “But, she’s been pounding that drum for a long time and I just think she’s off beat.”

Galloway is running against him for governor this year.

Brad Tregnago of Missourinet affiliate KSSZ in Columbia contributed to this story.

Galloway: “Missouri is among the least prepared in the nation to weather a recession”

October 16, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s state auditor used a Tuesday press conference in Jefferson City to call on Governor Mike Parson (R) and the GOP-controlled state legislature to create a new budget tool to ensure the state is prepared for a recession.

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway (D) briefs Capitol reporters about the Rainy Day Fund on October 15, 2019 (photo from Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth)

The governor’s chief of staff dismissed the press conference as political.

Democratic Auditor Nicole Galloway tells Capitol reporters that the state’s “Rainy Day Fund” is maintained at a level well below other states.

“The report I am releasing today shows that Missouri is woefully unprepared for an economic downturn. In fact, Missouri is among the least prepared in the nation to weather a recession,” Galloway says.

The official name for the “Rainy Day Fund” is Missouri’s Budget Reserve Fund (BRF). Galloway says the state is using the fund for day-to-day expenses, like payroll. Galloway says state lawmakers and Governor Parson’s administration “have failed to responsibly plan for the future.”

“According to a 2018 stress test from Moody’s Analytics, Missouri rated 43rd in the nation in terms of preparedness for a moderate economic downturn,” says Galloway.

Galloway says more than $360 million has been borrowed from the fund every fiscal year since 2011, which also dates back to former Governors Jay Nixon (D) and Eric Greitens (R).

She is warning that the state will have to cut critical services or raise taxes during a recession, unless lawmakers take action to protect the Budget Reserve Fund. Galloway tells the Capitol Press Corps that governors have relied on the fund to supplement cash flow throughout the year.

“And in both fiscal years 2017 and 2019 when Missouri’s economy has been stable and growing, the state borrowed more than $500 million from the budget reserve fund,” Galloway says.

Click here to read Auditor Galloway’s full report.

The BRF was approved by 59 percent of Missouri voters in 2000. Galloway says the Budget Reserve Fund’s balance was $616 million, at the end of the 2018 fiscal year.

It was preceeded by two different funds, the Budget Stabilization Fund and the Cash Operating Reserve Fund, which were created in response to the recession in the early 1980’s.

Former Governor John Ashcroft (R) and the late State Sen. Ed Dirck, D-St. Ann, worked together in the 1980’s to help create those two funds.

Galloway is the likely Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 2020 against Governor Parson. The governor’s chief of staff, Aaron Willard, issued a statement to Missourinet after the press conference, saying it was political.

“It is no surprise Nicole Galloway is following the national liberal Democrats’ playbook attacking Missouri and our country’s booming economy, especially given the fact that she opposes pro-growth policies that have led to the largest increase in real incomes, historically low unemployment, and nearly 40,000 new jobs created in Missouri. She also has ignored the truth that Governor Parson left over $100 million in his budget specifically for cash flow purposes and that Missouri enjoys a AAA bond rating. The Auditor also never used her official office in a capacity to criticize Governor Nixon, whom appointed her, over the BRF when budgets were tighter and reserves were lower. It’s obvious that truth and results matter less to Nicole Galloway than political stunts mimicking tactics used by (U.S. House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and (Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer,” Willard’s statement reads.

Audit: northwest Missouri bookkeeper used embezzled money on cruises, credit cards

July 17, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s state auditor says the former bookkeeper for a northwest Missouri road district misappropriated more than $286,000.

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway briefs Capitol reporters on April 2, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Alisa Nelson)

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway says former Plattsburg Special Road District bookkeeper Ava Langner allegedly embezzled the money from 2011 to 2018.

Galloway’s office has released a scathing district audit, which says Langner used to money to pay credit cards and for travel on Carnival Cruise Lines. The audit also says Langner used the money for entertainment at locations like Silver Dollar City, the Starlight Theatre and Space Center Houston.

The audit says $76,000 was used to pay Langner’s personal credit card bills.

Langner served as the district’s secretary/treasurer, and was fired by the board in October.

Galloway spokeswoman Steph Deidrick tells Missourinet that Langner has not been charged yet, adding that the FBI and the Missouri State Highway Patrol are investigating.

The auditor’s 46-page report notes the Clinton County prosecutor referred the matter to both the Highway Patrol and the FBI.

The state auditor’s public corruption and fraud division released the audit today, giving the district a rating of “poor.”

“This was a brazen betrayal by an official entrusted with public funds, who then tried to cover her tracks by falsifying documents,” Galloway says in a statement. “Restoring public trust and confidence in the district may be a challenge going forward, but it is vitally important that it happen.”

Galloway says a whistleblower contacted her office last fall, regarding potential fraud in the district. Galloway says that after a preliminary investigation found the allegations credible, she asked for and received a request from district officials to conduct an independent audit.

Plattsburg, which is in Clinton County, is southeast of St. Joseph.