By Chris OrletRecord Managing EditorWhile all of the expenses haven’t been calculated, the audit of the city of Warrenton will likely cost between $40,000 and $45,000, according to State Auditor Thomas Schweich.The cost of the audit of Warrenton will be borne by city taxpayers. State taxpayers covered the cost of auditing the municipal court, said Spence Jackson, a spokesman for the state auditor’s office.Warrenton officials were split on whether the audit was a good use of taxpayer money.Alderman Gary Auch said the audit restored confidence in the city. “The auditor basically said the city was well run but there were several areas that need improvement,” he said. “Having been audited at least 100 times in my career I look for the audit to show management that I am doing a good job and to give me the opportunity to make improvements. I believe this audit did both, which is a great value.”Added Auch: “I have had several citizens tell me that the audit has help restore some of the confidence back in the city.”Alderwoman Karen Casserly said it was “outrageous that the city will spend thousands of dollars for a report that provided few areas of improvement. “It is just as aggravating that the city employees spent so much of their time supporting the audit process when they could have been more productive doing the business of the city,” she said. “I understand the right to call for an audit but it aggravates me that we are paying this money to verify that our city is being run well.  I can think of other areas that as a citizen of Warrenton I would have spent this money.”Alderman John Cornell said the audit did what it was supposed to do. “However, I don’t feel like we exhausted all of the means to answer the concerns of citizens before we went through the expense of an audit.”Former Mayor Greg Costello said he would leave it up to the voters to decide whether the petitioners made a good choice for the city when they petitioned for an audit.Stan Shelton, one of the residents who spearheaded the petition, says the audit will be more than paid for by the finding of a $2 domestic violence fee that the city failed collect during the 2012 fiscal year. Instead of increasing the court costs assessed to include a $2 domestic violence fee, the court clerk distributed $2 of the fine amount collected to a local domestic violence shelter, the audit stated.Before the $2 domestic fee was put in place, the city paid about $12,000 annually out of the general fund to help fund Turning Point women’s shelter.The finding was part of the state’s audit of the Warrenton Municipal Court last summer. The court audit was the first-part of the petition audit. “We audited the municipal court because we were going to do the petition audit of the county,” said Jackson.Both audits, which covered the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2012, gave Warrenton a “good rating” for overall performance.Auch said the municipal court audit determined that the city was not charging the correct fees on fines which resulted in the city having to make restoration payments out of the general fund. “This could have continued on into the future if not corrected. This change makes the audit worth it from a financial perspective.”City Finance Officer Terri Thorn disagreed with Auch and Shelton’s statements, saying “I have spoken with our financial auditor and it is my belief that there is a very good chance that they would have found the issue when they audited.” Alderwoman Karen Casserly agreed, saying the city’s auditor, who audits the city’s finances annually, would have caught the mistake anyway.Thorn also said the amount collected annually from the $2 domestic violence fee would not cover the expense of the audit.“The average number of court cases is approximately 3,200 annually,” she said. “It would take several years to pay the fee for the audit of the city.”Audit Estimated to Cost $40,000-$45,000