State Auditor Shad White speaks in Lamar County

LAMAR COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) - State Auditor Shad White was the guest speaker at this month’s Forrest-Lamar Republican Women meeting.

White answered questions about his job and spoke a bit about his goals as auditor.

“Our job, that we are hired to do in the state auditor’s office, is to find misspending of public funds and enforce it in a fair way, in a level way that doesn’t give any extra benefits to anybody,” said White.

After the conference, White spoke with WDAM about both the Brett Favre audit case and the case with William Garrick, the former Fire Council President in Jones County.

According to White, Favre has 30 days after receiving his demand before his case goes to the Attorney General. With taxes and interest, he owes $828,000.

Garrick, with his passing, there isn’t much more that can be done, which is the dangers of embezzlement, says White.

“Sometimes, in a rare circumstance, we can get the funds through the estate if that’s where the funds are, but I am not sure that is the case in this situation. Sometimes, there isn’t much more that can be done.”

White and his team continue to fight to make sure no person or company has an advantage when it comes to funding and taxes.

“That’s what I want the taxpayers to know, is that we are out there advocating on their behalf, and more than advocating, if money is stolen from them, we are thinking about them first,” says White. “We are thinking about them because they are the victims in this ultimately and we are going to work just as hard to get that money back that they did to pay their taxes in the first place.”

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