City of Marion being investigated by state AG office for alleged missing utility payments worth $1.7 million
MARION, Ala. (WSFA) - The Alabama Attorney General’s Office is investigating the City of Marion to determine “whether the City of Marion assessed, collected, and subsequently failed to account for approximately $1.7 million in utility payments during the Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023.”
The state AG office sent the city a subpoena, classified as a “deceptive trade practices act investigation” dated March 25.
Marion is now required to produce dozens of documents, including records of their budget, financial accounting, water system, and grants from recent years.
Marion Mayor Dexter Hinton says the city has nothing to hide and will fully cooperate with the demands presented to them.
When asked if the $1.7 million was accounted for in recent independent audits, Hinton replied “Yes sir, most definitely, I’m saying the audits speak for themselves.”
Hinton then confirmed that he believes once the Attorney General receives the necessary records, they will understand that, adding: “We’re going to give them the information they asked for, they can canvas through it with their experts, and then they will give us a response.”
The subpoena alleges independent audits for the city of Marion in the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years “could not be certified due to the inadequacy of accounting records and unrecorded general ledgers.”
The deadline for records to be produced, according to the subpoena, is April 30. Hinton says the city has requested an extension due to limited staffing, and the current deadline would strain their limited staff and make it difficult to handle the high demand while maintaining day-to-day operations.
The investigation comes just over five months since Marion had a water outage for several days. At the time, city leaders said the culprit was a broken water main and outdated infrastructure.
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