State Auditor Stacey Pickering issued the following statement.
State Auditor Stacey Pickering Puts Cities on Notice to Prepare to Pay Court Assessment Fees
to Mississippi Treasury
JACKSON, Miss. –
Today,
State Auditor Stacey Pickering notified local government officials in
the Towns of Tchula and Raleigh, City of Shaw, and Coahoma County to
prepare to pay delinquent court assessment fees to the Mississippi
Treasurer’s Office or face receiving a formal demand from the
Mississippi Office of the State Auditor (OSA).
Court
assessment fees are commonly collected in association with traffic
violations and misdemeanor offenses, and are required by state law to be
deposited with the State Treasurer on a monthly basis.
The
Town of Tchula has collected but not appropriately deposited $68,556.42
in assessments. The Town of Raleigh has collected but not appropriately
deposited $47,076.72. The City of Shaw has collected but not
appropriately deposited $14,935.35. Coahoma County has collected but not
appropriately deposited $18,668.27.
OSA
is aware of many other municipal and county governments failing to
properly deposit assessment fees and has been reviewing this process for
approximately
one year. During these reviews, over $350,000 has been identified and
deposited. OSA anticipates hundreds of thousands more dollars to be
properly submitted before the completion of the audit review process.
Formal demands have
not been issued yet. Each entity has thirty days to
properly submit the assessment funds to the Treasurer’s Office. If those
funds have not been submitted in that timeframe, a formal demand will
be issued.
10 comments:
I am pretty sure Shaw and Tchula have each invested this money wisely and can readily access and pay this overdue bill. Both have very fiscally astute mayors.
LOL, I'll bet Tchula doesn't have $100 in the bank.
Pickering should hire Michael Guest's company to collect those amounts. He has lots of experience in that area.
Shaw should have streets paved in gold with the money they make from their permanent speed trap.
So should Waterproof, LA.
Pickering is sad. His press conferences basically say, "Look I how powerless and impotent I am!" He's just running for the next office and wants to look like he's accomplished something. But if NO ONE goes to jail, he's part of the problem. Another day in the paradise that is Mississippi.
I have never heard of this before. I assumed if you paid fees in a municipal court, they went to the municipality. There likely are "many other municipal and county governments failing to properly deposit assessment fees"
4:51
How can the state recuperate its lost assets when it is PAYING to house embezzlers who are in jail and not receiving income to pay back the state?
The newest scam by some metro cities is to dismiss tickets if the defendant pays $50 resulting in the city receiving $50 and the city not paying any assessments to the state -- city gets money, violator is happy, and state gets cheated.
Many cities have done this for years. Why is he just now making collection efforts?
Campaigning for an election to another office. Pickering is a political animal just like the rest. Hard to believe he can sleep at night being an ordained minister and leader in the national guard. That's Mississippi for ya. He wanted to erase the shadow of his uncle Charles, but instead furthered his cloudy, murky character into the present.
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