Justin P. Wilson, Tennessee Comptroller

The state Comptroller's office slapped Meigs County with 20 findings today in an audit of the fiscal year ending Jun 30, 2013.

According to auditors, 16 of those findings were repeats from previous audits on issues that were not corrected, according to a release by the state Comptroller of the Treasury's office in Nashville.

The audit states that 13 of the 20 findings were in the director of finance's office, and included issues with the way the office was handling payroll, purchasing, budgeting and administration of state and federal grants.

"Twenty findings is an unacceptably high number for any audit," Comptroller Justin P. Wilson said in the release. "It's particularly troubling to me that so many of these findings were also present in previous audits.

"Failure to follow sound management, budgeting and accounting practices creates a climate where fraud, waste or abuse of public money is more likely to occur," Wilson said. "I hope that Meigs County officials will take these findings seriously and adopt steps to prevent the findings from appearing in future audits."

Auditors also noted that Meigs County has not appointed an audit committee and does not utilize a centralized system of accounting, budgeting and purchasing, according to the release.

Check with the Chattanooga Times Free Press online and in print for more information on the audit.

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.