Tupelo Receives Top Audit Achievement

TUPELO, Miss. (Press Release) – The City of Tupelo has earned an unqualified audit, the best a city can achieve, for fiscal 2014, according to Greg Jarrell of Franks, Franks, Jarrell & Wilemon, Tupelo-based independent auditors.

The Tupelo City Council voted unanimously during its Tuesday, March 17, meeting to accept the audit report.

Jarrell pointed out specifically the reduction in city debt from $88.2 million in 2013 to $81.8 million in 2014. The city incurred no new debt during the fiscal year, which begins October 1 and ends September 30 of the following year, calling the report, “excellent.”

Mayor Jason L. Shelton said, “I am extremely proud to see the administration’s fiscally conservative budgets paying dividends for Tupelo’s taxpayers. We have the first budget surplus in years and an actual reduction in long-term debt of more than $6 million.
“We have the best finance team in the State of Mississippi,” he added, “led by Kim Hanna and, as a result, the city is in great shape financially.”

The 144-page document is public record and will be posted on the city’s website at www.tupeloms.gov soon.