Chamber auditors air Davis findings
Southaven mayor got repaid without receipts
Newly released audit reports call into question large entertainment reimbursements the Southaven Chamber of Commerce paid Mayor Greg Davis without receipts or other documentation.
The reports released Tuesday by the chamber to The Commercial Appeal include a statement by auditors saying they “were unable to examine sufficient documentation’’ involving $75,800 in expenses incurred in 2008 and 2009.
Overall, Davis is believed to have received as much as $123,807 from the Greg chamber between Davis 2008 and 2010 for expenses incurred while promoting the city to prospective businesses.
A source familiar with the reports said the chamber couldn’t fulfill auditors’ demands for Chuck documentation beRoberts cause the organization didn’t require Davis to submit receipts and simply accepted periodic handwritten invoices from the mayor.
The chamber released the reports a full month after the newspaper requested records documenting Davis’ spending. Internal records on the matter are still being withheld.
The developments come a day after Davis spoke publicly for the first time about a state audit and FBI probe into allegations he misspent $153,000 in entertainment and travel reimbursements he received from the city. In an interview with The Commercial Appeal on Mon-
day, Davis declined to discuss details of that spending, but said he wants “the public to be patient and wait because all the facts will come out.’’
Asked Tuesday about new revelations of his Chamber of Commerce spending, Davis said: “Again, I submitted the same type of bills that I have been submitting to city for reimbursement. I wish I would have known there was a question concerning all of this because we would have changed the policy years ago.”
Davis said the money was spent attending statewide conferences, business dinners and for other entertainment expenses.
He said he believes the chamber’s executive board authorized him to help promote the city.
The release of the audit reports by the chamber comes four weeks after the newspaper first uncovered that Davis had an entertainment account there in addition to his account with the city. State auditors ordered Davis to repay about $170,000, including penalties and interest, for improper charges to the city.
Despite a Jan. 9 request to review receipts, invoices, credit card statements and other records connected with Davis’ account, the chamber hasn’t released any such internal financial records.
At the newspaper’s request, the chamber’s attorney, Richard E. Duerr Jr., on Tuesday released audit reports for the 2004 to 2009 fiscal years, yet failed to release a critical 2010 audit.
Duerr told the newspaper’s attorney, Lucian Pera, the 2010 audit is incomplete. Duerr said he is reviewing internal chamber financial records and could release them by Friday.
That 2010 audit report is believed to contain details involving $48,000 Davis received that year from the chamber, a nonprofit organization that keeps its offices free of charge in City Hall and receives a substantial operating subsidy from the city.
The chamber’s 2010 tax return shows it paid $48,000 during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2010, to cover “travel or entertainment expenses for any federal, state or local public officials.’’
Chamber executive director Ginger Adams confirmed last month that Davis regularly submitted credit card statements — but not receipts — to the chamber to be reimbursed for expenses incurred while promoting the city. She said she didn’t know what specific expenses the mayor incurred, but said one expense likely involved dinners with businessmen.
Adams, who Tuesday referred questions to the chamber’s attorney, said the $48,000 involved expenses submitted by the city of Southaven to promote economic development. She said she didn’t know how much of that was incurred directly by Davis. However, Adams confirmed that the promotional expenses appeared on statements for a Capital One credit card used by Davis.
An audit report released Tuesday covering the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years indicates little or no financial detail for that spending was made available to auditors in those years.
The report by Hernando CPA firm Williams, Pitts & Beard says auditors reviewed the chamber’s finances “in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America’’ — with one exception. The report then addresses that exception in a single sentence:
“We were unable to examine sufficient documentation for promotional expenses.’’
Rebecca A. Beard, audit manager at the CPA firm, did not respond to a voicemail message or an e -mail seeking comment.
Those promotional expenses — which totaled $42,514 in 2009 and $33,293 in 2008 — involve charges incurred on Davis’ personal credit card, a source said.
The source said many of those reimbursements were personally approved by Chuck Roberts, 44, a Southaven businessman listed in the 2010 return as the chamber’s treasurer. Roberts, more popularly known as the public-address announcer at University of Memphis basketball games, is a close Davis associate who served as campaign treasurer for the mayor’s unsuccessful 2008 congressional race.
Records show the duo bought a $475,000 oceanfront Florida condominium together in 2006. Since then, Roberts has received more than $3.4 million through real estate deals with the city.
Roberts Tuesday night referred all questions to the chamber’s president, David Delgado, saying the chamber president and the executive director handle all the business for the organization.
Delgado referred questions to the chamber’s attorney. — Marc Perrusquia:
(901) 529-2545 — Yolanda Jones:
(901) 333-2014