Sunflower County’s municipalities have a problem when it comes to audits.
They are probably not alone here in the Delta.
Audits cost money. A lot of money, and that’s something not a lot of towns, big or small, have here.
The City of Indianola has gone back and forth with one auditing firm for over a year trying to get its 2018 audit complete.
At one time, the board fired the first firm, Brown & Ewing, and in the last couple of months contracted with a new one to finish that audit.
As it turns out, the new firm needs a lot of the documents the old firm is just not willing to produce, due to the soured relationship with the city.
So, this past Monday night, the board voted to contract again with the old firm to allow them to finish the 2018 audit for $40,000.
The new firm will probably have to start with 2019, but at least it will have the work papers from 2017 and 2018 to get that started.
The city is currently five full years behind on audits, and in case you did not know, that has a real impact on the city and its taxpayers.
Last February, Congressman Bennie Thompson awarded $2 million to Sunflower County for municipal projects in Indianola, Drew, Ruleville, Doddsville and Sunflower.
Thompson stated at the time that this was an end run around the problem each of these municipalities was facing in being delinquent on their annual audits.
The cities and towns have picked their projects, but the county is facilitating them.
By themselves, these municipalities cannot qualify for federal grant dollars until they are caught up with their audits.
During this past Monday night’s meeting, City Engineer Ron Cassada informed the board that another important project, the B.B. King sidewalk endeavor, is on hold due to the city’s audit situation.
Brown & Ewing have promised to have the 2018 audit completed by January 31, 2024. We’ll see if that does indeed happen.
Based on the estimated time given by the most recent audit firm hired for 2018, these audits may take up to six months or more to complete each, with a total bill in the hundreds of thousands.
This is not just about having access to federal grant dollars.
This is the detailed accounting of the city’s finances. The taxpayers deserve and should demand this simple act of transparency, which is required by law.
When cities do not comply, then we start to see the kind of messes and squabbling over budget issues like we see in Indianola.
People start to point fingers. The new folks blame the old folks. The old folks blame the new folks.
Who’s to know who is telling the truth - or perhaps that these are all just simple misunderstandings - without proper audits?
All of our boards should resolve themselves to get caught up on their annual audits in the next 24 months.
Thompson’s gesture to the Sunflower County municipalities included in his award is nice, and it does not come without a lot of gratitude, but that cannot be a long-term solution for handling municipal business in the county.
