By Megan Ashley Fink

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — The City of Natchez’s annual financial audit for the 2013-2014 fiscal year is already more than five months past due, but city officials anticipate it will be completed in January.

Natchez City Clerk Donnie Holloway said the unexpected departure of a city accountant in June put the clerk’s office behind in preparing materials to send to the city’s independent auditor. The city has since hired an accountant to replace the previous one.

Assistant City Clerk Wendy McClain said the audit is late because of the city, not the independent auditor. McClain joined the clerk’s staff in July.

“There was a ton of stuff that was not done when the previous accountant left,” McClain said. “It took us six to eight weeks to get everything corrected and get the reports to the auditor.”

McClain said that the city has sent the necessary information to its independent auditor, Deanne Tanksley with The Gillon Group, for the 2013-2014 year and expects the audit to be completed in January.

The state’s deadline for the most recent fiscal year’s audit, 2014-2015, is June 30, 2016.

McClain said that the city must submit its financial records to Tanksley every year when the fiscal year ends in September.

The Gillon Group compiles the audit in the statewide-accepted format, and then returns it to clerk’s office. The audit goes to the Natchez Board of Aldermen for approval before being sent to the state auditor’s office in Jackson.

Holloway said the city has been spared immediate consequences for not submitting its audit to the state on time.

Grant funding to local governments can be cut off if timely financial audits are not completed. Adams County has in the past had its grant funding cut off because of a delinquent audit.

Holloway said, however, the city has been granted leniency from agencies such as the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

“They know our circumstances here, so we’ve gotten grants anyway,” he said.