Editorials

An auditor gives a thumbs-up to the city of Anniston's books, meaning claims of a missing $2 million in the budget are fiction. “No misappropriation of assets” is how James Edgar, a Glencoe-based certified public accountant, puts it in a May 23 letter to the City Council.

Case closed, right? Not so fast, says City Councilman Ben Little, who was the first to allege the “missing” $2 million. He says, “I don't care what the auditor says.”

A CPA's signature on an audit carries weight. It's the sort of weight that, should the auditor attempt fraud, he or she is disgraced, or worse imprisoned. The auditor's clean bill of health is but confirmation of what city staff has been saying — that there is no missing $2 million.

Still, Councilman Little is on the case, unmoved by the persuasive pleadings of various reliable sources. He vows to keep on looking, doing his own version of a snipe hunt. We wish him luck. Perhaps along the way he can find other missing monies. The last installment for the Eastern Parkway or the funding for Next Start are two real shortfalls that come to mind.