By Shad White
Your State Auditor’s office is doing more work with less money from the state’s general fund. And we’re proud of our ability to get more work done with less money from the state’s taxpayers.
To give a bit more detail, my first budget as State Auditor provided the auditor’s office with $8.8 million from the state general fund. The general fund is the main pool of money that the Legislature divides up every year to pay for state government. This past year, we operated with nearly $900,000 less from the general fund. In other words, we took about 10% less from the general fund than in my first budget.
Some might complain about having to do more with less, but I understand its importance. As State Auditor, I audit agencies and then call on them to operate more efficiently every day. My office should do the same. We should lead by example.
That’s why, when I came into office, I ordered a compliance audit of my own office. I wanted to know how we could improve our operations and wanted to make sure we were following all the laws around spending public money. I also asked each director to find cost savings inside their divisions. We did everything from look to see if the office paid for unnecessary wifi hot spots all the way to identifying positions that might not be necessary.
This was not a one-time exercise, though. We are constantly looking for ways to save your money. This is because I know that we’re not just playing with Monopoly money over here. Every dollar we spend belongs to you. We want to maximize the use of those dollars to the greatest extent possible.
We also know that we still have to get our work done, regardless of our budget. The Office of the State Auditor plays a critical role in state government. We find folks who have embezzled taxpayer dollars. We investigate and arrest them. We work with prosecutors to obtain convictions and get your money back. And we audit counties, school districts, agencies, and other arms of government. We’re always watching.
The results are in: even with less money from the general fund, with more efficient operations, we are able to return stolen taxpayer dollars back to where they belong. This past year, we more than tripled the amount of taxpayer dollars we got back through our investigations compared to the previous year—a more than 350% increase.
We did this by taking a zero tolerance approach to public corruption. When someone steals your money, they should be held accountable. We investigated cases as small as around $100 this year all the way up to the biggest public embezzlement scheme in state history, according to our records.
At the same time, we worked with prosecutors around the state to obtain convictions when the subjects of our investigations stole your money. We have obtained hundreds of years of prison time for the felons we investigated.
This is important, because if a young man walked into the gas station and robbed it for $500, he’d be sent to jail quickly. I think if someone steals public funds, they should be held to the same standard. It doesn’t matter that they stole with a pen and wore a tie while they were doing it.
It’s an honor to serve you as State Auditor. I take this job seriously, and I show up to work every day with fire in my belly. As long as you allow me to serve, I will continue to be a pit bull when it comes to the folks who steal from you, and I will be a responsible manager of the store when it comes to handling the budget that the taxpayers provide to us.
Shad White is the 42nd State Auditor of Mississippi
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