01/19/2026
Mississippi County Presiding Commissioner responds to Auditors news release headline and KFVS-TV headline calling it reckless fake news.
I, James Conn, Presiding Commissioner of Mississippi County, have very concerning issues with the State Auditors office news release and KFVS-TV for a headline broadcast on January 14, 2025. KFVS and the State Auditor could have led with the headline “After a six-month exhaustive audit review from 2016 thru 2023 spanning 8 years, the state auditor’s office found Mississippi County with no evidence of fraud or misuse of funds “. Instead, KFVS ran the headline “Mo. Auditor finds Mississippi County residents have been overtaxed by $172K”. KFVS and the State Auditor provided no context at all for such an outrageous headline. Here is the context for that headline. When sales tax collected reaches a certain level, there is a very small rollback of the property tax rate. In 2016, the previous county clerk used a calculation formula to establish the rollback rate, a formula maintained by the current county clerk; however, it was found that this was where the error occurred, therefore establishing the incorrect rate. Over the span of 8 years that error amounts to $172,000 or $15 dollars per citizen (population = 12,000). That amount will be adjusted and credited to property taxes in 2026. Formula error corrected, no big deal, no controversy. After the outrageous headline, KFVS scurried all over the courthouse and the downtown area looking for comments and trying to create controversy. If KFVS had called me first before their newscast, we might have avoided this nonsense. Instead KFVS ran with fake news that they generated for three days.
Most of the auditor’s comments/criticisms for the various office holders centered around procedures and processes. In some cases, corrective action was taken in 2024 or 2025 before this audit. In other instances, the various office holders agreed to implement the auditor’s recommendation. The Prosecuting Attorney’s office had fully implemented corrective action for every auditor’s criticism as of October 2024 prior to this audit (audit pages 8 & 9) but KFVS failed to include that in its public discussion.
The County Commission further takes issue with KFVS misrepresenting three issues without clarification.
1. “Commission did not approve budget amendments”.
FACT: The Commission DID approve budget amendments. Auditor recommends that we make adjustments BEFORE we have a full and accurate account of what that budget amendment should be. We will make an attempt to comply with the recommendation but to fully comply might never be practical without having full and accurate accounting.
2. Paying $18,500 to County Clerk is against Mo. Constitution.
The county commission requires an administrative assistant to perform host of duties in day to day correspondence and management. This position is advertised in the newspaper by the County Commission every 4 years. To date, the only person responding is the County Clerk. The method or procedure of paying $18,500 to the county clerk might have to be adjusted to comply but the commission will continue to compensate the county clerk for the host of projects that we believe are fully outside the scope of typical duties of the county clerk. A partial list - FEMA project CR 416, $100k, FEMA project CR 529, $250k, Bridge replacement CR 322, $500k, sale of ford building, sale of 80 acres, manage $100k courthouse security, manage courthouse and grounds, Airport grant $500k, South Martin CDBG grant $500k, City of Anniston winddown.
3. “County Commission made a mid-term salary increase to the sheriff in violation of constitutional provisions”.
In 2021, state statute increased the sheriff salary. The commission complied with that statute. There was a very technical calculation establishing when and how to calculate that increase. The commission takes full responsibility for the $2600 error for three years. We promise to do better next time.
Finally, the citizens of Mississippi County can rest assured that the system does work. The county is financially healthy with $1,500,000 in our General Fund. People elected to the various county functions are doing their jobs.
We, the Commission, did not have a problem with the audit or the auditor. We reviewed face to face with the auditors in November. No big deal. No fraud. No misappropriation of funds. Some minor adjustments needed in processes and procedures... What we have though is a huge problem with the State Auditors office press release and KFVS-TV recklessly running a headline with no context. We have come to expect that type of fake news from the coastal media but not in the Heartland. Mississippi County would like to thank the various media outlets that have allowed us to get our message out without editing. KFVS-TV and the State Auditor owe Mississippi County a public apology.
James D, Conn – Presiding Commissioner, Mississippi County
