Over in McNairy County, there’s a lot of room for improvement with how county officials manage taxpayer money, according to an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released this week.
“The county’s audit for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018 includes 11 findings of noncompliance or significant deficiency within county government offices,” Comptrollers wrote in a press release.
“Eight of those findings were reported in the prior year’s audit and have not been corrected.”
No one at the county mayor’s office was available to speak to The Tennessee Star.
Auditors reported finding problems in the offices of the county mayor, sheriff, highway commissioner, and director of schools. These findings included expenditures exceeding approved appropriations, accounting deficiencies, a cash overdraft, and inadequate internal controls over software programs.
“McNairy County has had at least nine audit findings in each of the last five fiscal years,” Comptrollers said in the press release.
“Meanwhile, other Tennessee counties have experienced improved audit results.”
Among the findings, according to the audit itself:
• Management failed to hold spending to the limits authorized by the county. Expenditures exceeded total appropriations approved by the county commission in the General, Solid Waste/Sanitation, Drug Control, and General Debt Service funds by $1,286,619, $98,663, $342, and $4,065, respectively.
• Salaries exceeded appropriations in 14 of 74 salary line-items of the General Fund by amounts ranging from $200 to $19,148, and in four of nine salary line- items of the Solid Waste/Sanitation Fund by amounts ranging from $652 to $17,806.
• Three employees in the sheriff’s department accrued vacation leave balances exceeding the maximum balance provided by the county’s personnel policy.
• Salaries exceeded appropriations in two of nine salary line-items in the Highway/Public Works Fund by $8,727 and $121,945.
• Expenditures exceeded total appropriations approved by the county commission in the General Purpose School Fund by $331,559.
• Salaries exceeded appropriations in 28 of 66 salary line-items of the General Purpose School Fund by amounts ranging from $135 to $302,742 and in one of 19 salary line-items in the School Federal Projects Fund by $1,300.
Tennessee Comptroller Justin Wilson said the audit troubled him.
“What is most concerning to me is the number of repeat problems noted in this report,” Wilson said in the press release.
“County leaders must commit to resolving these findings so they won’t occur again. I urge McNairy County’s audit committee to insist on appropriate corrective action.”
– – –
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
