Pickering asking for stimulus funds
With the state’s roughly $2.8-billion share of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) money starting to flow in, State Auditor Stacey Pickering is seeking permission from the federal government to divert between $3.5 million and $5 million to his office to fund accountability and oversight of how Mississippi agencies spend their funds.
As it is, the stimulus package does not earmark any money to state auditors for accountability and oversight. Federal agencies — the General Accounting Office (GAO), Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Management and Budget — will monitor how the money is spent.
“There’s no money earmarked for accountability at the state and local level,” Pickering told a crowd today at the monthly Stennis Capitol Press Corps Luncheon. “We have an unfunded mandate, an unfunded expectation to the federal government, the public and the media.”
MS Business Journal
4/7/9
Magnolia Tribune
