Hardeman County‘s solid waste disposal fun had a deficit of almost $1.7 million at the end of the last fiscal year, state auditors found, largely because of the county’s estimated $2.3 million in costs associated with closing a landfill and monitoring it for 30 years, a problem auditors have documented elsewhere in the state.
Auditors also discovered $1,297 was missing from the sheriff’s department commissary fund, and in the course of the office’s inquiry, the commissary bookkeeper confessed to taking the money and was fired. According to the audit, the bookkeeper repaid the funds, but auditors noted weaknesses in documentation that, if fixed, could prevent future theft.
The county erred in not depositing certain contractor payments into an escrow account, auditors found, and the county mayor’s office spent more than the county commission had allotted for its drug control and general funds.
