The PEER Committee takes exception to the Department of Finance and Administration’s permitting deficit spending by state agencies. State statutes clearly prohibit deficit spending and the Mississippi Constitution provides the Legislature with sole authority to set spending limits. This report constitutes a warning to agency directors that PEER will take exception to any expenditure made by an agency in excess of its legal spending authority in a given year and may recommend recovery of misspent funds from responsible officials in each case.
The Department of Finance and Administration approved payment of $1,173,617 in Department of Corrections obligations incurred during fiscal year 1990 with funds appropriated for fiscal year 1991.
Cecil Brown, the former Executive Director of the Department of Finance and Administration, suggested that this deficit spending practice has had the blessing of the Legislature in the past, that strict adherence with the law might “shut down” state government since many agencies indulged, and that the statutes are not clear with regard to the legality of such expenditures.
For a paper copy of this report, contact PEER by telephone at 601-359-1226 or by e-mail at reports@peer.ms.gov.