CANTON – Jeff Goodwin, director of the state auditor’s compliance division, was congenial while describing to Canton officials how the office has taken $352,000 of the city’s revenue to pay for past-due audits – the first time Auditor Shad White has exercised this authority.

“I didn’t write the law. Auditor White didn’t write the law, but we’re charged with enforcing it,” Goodwin said at the Canton Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday.

Canton is one of 68 local governments across Mississippi that received an auditor’s letter in March, putting officials on notice of their delinquent audits.

The notices went as far north as Farmington near the Tennessee line and as far south as Moss Point on the Gulf Coast. They spanned from mid-sized cities like McComb, to rural towns like Coffeeville, to t

See Full Page