Olivia Yepez and Chuck Williams
COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — The main topic of the morning: money. City officials conducted an internal audit of the Columbus Finance Department under the supervision of Donna McGinnis, the city’s full-time internal auditor and compliance officer. Audit findings revealed Columbus is missing over $45 million in funds, however Columbus Director of Finance Angelica Alexander disputed the claim.
According to Alexander, there is about $2.5 million from about 500-plus accounts currently pending processing. She said no funds were missing.
Councilors were equally concerned and puzzled as they attempted to reconcile the drastically different numbers, viewing presentations by both McGinnis and Alexander.
“There is no missing money in the revenue base to the tune of $45 million dollars,” said Alexander, adding that the missing $2.5 million comes as a result of complications due to understaffing during the pandemic.
According to the city’s director of finance, the finance department failed to send delinquency courtesy notices to businesses from 2020 to 2022. The delinquency notices would have gone to businesses that had…
