SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — The hits just keep coming for the Shelby County Clerk’s Office and clerk Wanda Halbert.
The Clerk's Office was under fire in the past for long lines, car tag mail delays and other mismanagement. Now, misreported revenues from the clerk's office are causing a major budget discrepancy that could impact everything from school to hospital projects in Shelby County.
“I don’t have a great answer for how we’re going to resolve this,” said Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright. “There’s been lots of different problems with the reports. They’ve not been timely. They’ve been inaccurate. You can look at them, the numbers don't match, or they’re duplicating previous months. It's just an absolute mess in the clerk's office.”
The revenue discrepancies were disclosed during this week’s county commission meeting. Trustee Regina Newman revealed some numbers are so off, they have to completely start over, with inaccurate reports dating back to July.
“We are un-posting July, August and September because they were so incorrect. Having talked to the comptroller's office about it, the figures don’t reconcile on those reports,” said trustee Regina Newman at the meeting.
County commissioners need to get accurate revenue numbers quickly, as the county's budget proposal is due in the coming weeks. Plans include money to be spent to build two new MSCS schools and renovate Regional One hospital.
Clerk Wanda Halbert is already under investigation by the Hamilton County D.A. for the management of her office. Wright said these latest errors have all become part of the investigation. Friday morning, with lines wrapped around the clerk's Mullins Station location, customers were again disappointed to learn of the latest drama.
“That really doesn’t surprise me. It's very sad that we have a very large government and lots of people that depend on it, and they’re mismanaging it,” said Memphian Dawn Weaver.
Newman also revealed the clerk’s office did not properly implement the wheel tax in time last summer. The tax was meant to go in effect July 1, but instead it was not put in place until August.
ABC24 made numerous attempts to contact Clerk Wanda Halbert on Friday, but we did not receive a reply.