RAMER, Tenn. — It is known as “a little town with a big heart,” but the City of Ramer is facing big problems: money problems.

“We could not account for all the collections and receipts that the city received for the period that we investigated,” Kevin Huffman, Investigative Audit Manager with the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, said.

The state comptroller’s office said the McNairy County town is plagued with money mismanagement issues.

“To handle the money — that’s mostly the job if there’s any money there to handle it right,” Larry Dickey, who lives in Ramer, explained.

Investigators said City Manager Tabitha Dickey did not hand over more than $3,000 when first asked.

Mayor George Armstrong said she was nervous.

“There was a bank deposit,” Mayor Armstrong told WREG. “She failed to mention that. Well, the two didn’t add up.”

The money eventually turned up in the city’s account.

“That led us into a really in-depth review of the accounting records that they had at Ramer,” Huffman explained.

Investigators cited 20 problems in the city manager’s office, including:

Collections were not deposited promptly. For several months, the city manager made as few as two deposits per month. For the month of November 2012, the city manager did deposit water account collections. The delay in depositing funds increases the risk of fraud.

The city did not maintain records to determine the amount of money owed to it at any given time.
All of the findings and recommendations in the investigative report have been reviewed with the district attorney general for the Twenty-fifth Judicial District.

The mayor told WREG he was not surprised by the problems the state found.

“We have been written up a number of years by our yearly auditors for the same thing,” Mayor Armstrong said. “Who should be held responsible? I guess ultimately that’s me.”

Armstrong said the city plans to do better.

Now that the state is involved, he doesn’t have a choice.

“They shouldn’t be handling or doing away with the money that belongs to the city,” Dickey said.

The findings have been turned over to the district attorney’s office for review.