CAVE SPRINGS (KFSM) -- A legislative audit of Cave Springs shows several instances of the mishandling of city funds.
The report, conducted by the Arkansas Legislative Audit, looked at city officials who held office in 2015 and 2016, which included the positions of mayor, recorder, treasurer, court clerk and police chief.
Findings from the audit show overpayments to several employees, including the recorder/treasurer, which became a combined position in October 2015, was overpaid $14,509 in 2016. A former police chief was overpaid $6,993 in sick leave when his employment was terminated, which is against a city resolution. He was also paid twice for unused annual leave totaling $2,600.
Among other findings, the report found the mayor purchased a city vehicle for $23,500, over the $23,165 appropriated by the city council. Another $10,155 was spent on vehicle accessories that were not approved by the council.
Other examples include excess travel reimbursements funds, undocumented travel reimbursements and unauthorized car allowances.
Several Arkansas code violations were also found, including the combining of street fund property tax into the general fund. Violations were found in mismanaged city books with several receipt errors and numerous disbursement deficiencies.
Travis Lee, mayor of Cave Springs, said the city council recently hired a third party to review city books. The former legislative auditor is expected to bring their results to the city council during an upcoming budget meeting.
"We just got to get better at doing the things we're elected to do," Lee said. "I'm hoping that the council can easily work with everybody in the city to find a solution to this record keeping problem. I think they have. It's just going to be a matter of time until we see the results."