The City of Indianola has declared its share of emergencies over the past half decade.
There was the COVID-19 emergency order, which enforced social distancing, hours of operations for businesses and a curfew for citizens.
Following last July’s mass shooting on Church Street, the board of aldermen declared a state of emergency due to rampant gun violence, again putting the city on lockdown after 11 p.m.
Back in the spring, the board declared an emergency due to a lack of security at the police department and city hall following a reported incident involving an alleged madman entering both facilities on the same day with a bag containing weapons.
Apparently, last week’s news that the state department of revenue intends to withhold as much as $675,000 in local tax dollars due to the city’s audit delinquency did not constitute an emergency.
The news came during the same week that three aldermen, Ward 3 Alderman Ruben Woods, Ward 4 Alderman Marvin Elder and Ward 5 Alderman Sam Brock Jr., failed to show to the regular board meeting, leaving over 40 items of business unaddressed.
Mayor Ken Featherstone and the city’s five aldermen were polled later in the week about the prospect of having a special called meeting. None was had.
And then city officials packed their bags and headed to the Gulf Coast for the annual Mississippi Municipal League conference.
The city’s contracted CPA firm Tann, Brown & Russ appears to have made progress toward completing the fiscal year 2019 audit, but vamoosing to the coast knowing that State Auditor Shad White had just issued a certificate of noncompliance against the city, placing hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes at risk, underscores the general apathy that led to this audit delinquency problem to begin with.
City Clerk Stephanie Washington asked the mayor and board to meet last Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. to vote on a limited claims docket, as well as “approval of FY2020 Audit Engagement Letter with Tann, Brown & Russ Co. PLLC; approval of FY2021 Audit Engagement Letter with Tann, Brown & Russ Co. PLLC” and “discussion of emergent items. Consideration of any additional matters deemed necessary by the Board of Aldermen prior to the regular meeting on July 28, 2015.”
It seems that preparation for the beach was more important.
Monday night, the city will have gone a full three weeks without a meeting; maybe there will be a quorum this time.
We do not want to disparage the good folks at Mississippi Municipal League, but this group of Indianola board members has been attending the organization’s conferences for eight years.
If there have been any sessions related to annual fiscal audits, those must have occurred during pool time.
Meanwhile, Indianola’s citizens have a real problem if the auditor and the department of revenue make good on this noncompliance business.
The city is already disqualified from federal grants that could help upgrade the city’s infrastructure.
Cutting off use tax revenue could be detrimental to future progress with our infrastructure.
The city has paved and repaired four main thoroughfares in 2025 with that internet sales tax money.
It is currently the only stream of revenue that could lead toward a sustainable fix for our water, sewer and streets.
Cutting off the city’s tax dollars could also negatively affect our tourism industry.
The B.B. King Museum receives a sizable portion of its operating budget through a special local sales tax that is at risk of being withheld.
The state auditor does not have many more tools available to enforce audit compliance other than the one the office is ready to employ in Indianola.
Some reform may be needed in this regard, as current law seems to assume most audit delinquency is linked to cash flow problems.
That is not the case for Indianola, which has ample funds to pay for audits.
Indianola has long suffered from political infighting on its board and staffing issues at city hall.
The law also compounds the suffering of the town’s citizens, who do bear some collective responsibility, as we are the ones who voted for the audit delinquents.
Twice.
If Indianola does demonstrate to the auditor a good faith effort toward completing its audits, we hope that the state will show an equal amount of mercy.
Until then, there seems to be an emergency situation here.
Or not, depending upon who you ask.
