(Southaven, MS) It may be a new day at Southaven City Hall, with new city leaders now at the helm, but some old problems are coming to light again.
A 2012 city audit spells out what was going on even after Southaven became embroiled in a spending scandal with former Mayor Greg Davis, who was reimbursed thousands of dollars for undocumented city business.
The Board of Aldermen said they had tightened the belt.
Not according to the 2012 city audit.
The auditing firm found a ‘significant deficiency’ in Southaven’s financial reporting.
Auditors examined 20 travel reimbursement requests.
Five had inconsistencies where credit card statements were presented for reimbursements rather than original receipts, the person being paid signed off as department head authorizing the payment and expenses were listed as business purposes without any explanation.
At the same time, Southaven was saying it had turned over a new leaf and the days of Mayor Greg Davis’ carte blanche travel, meal and mileage reimbursements were gone.
The audit reveals the city was still not ensuring expenses were valid, leaving the door open for overstatement.
Auditor’s recommend the city get a tighter reign with proper internal controls .
Southaven says it revised its polices last June to be more detailed.
Now new city leaders have the job of making sure those policies are followed.