Auditor flags West Memphis for PD uniform policy

Auditor flags

West Memphis for PD uniform policy

‘ All of a sudden, it’s a problem,’ says Martin

news@theeveningtimes.com

Auditors are accountants with opinions, or so the old saying goes. But the opinions that matter most to the City of West Memphis are those from the Legislative Audit.

The official auditor knocked the city again this year for a procedure that had been in place for years regarding the uniform allowances for the city’s police officers. “We’ve been doing it that way for 40 years, and now all of a sudden, it’s a problem,” said City Treasurer Frank Martin.

Audit findings long-established and previously scrutinized under various legislative auditors can suddenly be reversed by a different auditor with a different focus. It can be more than just an annoyance for the city — it can be expensive, too.

“Last year, the payroll procedure changes they called for cost the city half a million dollars,” said Martin.

This year the auditor took a shot at police uniforms.

“The thing we got hit on hardest was the police uniforms,” said Martin. “It’s funny… we’ve been doing this for years and now they say it’s wrong.”

“This was somebody’s pet peeve this time,” said Budget Committee Chairman Tracy Catt.

The city allows $700 per year uniform allowance for officers. $350 dollars come in the spring for summer weight uniforms and certain equipment and another $350 for each officer sent in the fall for winter uniforms.

“We pre-paid the local store,” said Martin.

“They’d mark them off as they came in. The auditors questioned some of the stuff they got at the store.

You have to keep up with 80 people a year. We are trying to figure out how to ‘do it right’ now.”

Changing the procedure may make the money for the allowance taxable income.

“If we issue the officers a check, we will have to put it on the W-2,” said Martin.

By John Rech