Tennessee Counties Reported $563,000 in Unrecovered Cash Shortages

A Tennessee State Comptroller’s report has found that the amount of money stolen from Tennessee counties outpaced the amount recovered in fiscal year 2013.

The Tennessean reports counties began the last fiscal year with more than $563,000 in unrecovered cash shortages. They recovered more than $237,000. Some of that came from restitution payments while some came from insurance claims or other means.

But nearly $450,000 in new shortages were detected. That leaves a new shortfall of more than $775,000, an increase of more than $200,000.

The report is based on a snapshot taken June 30, 2013, and drawn from audits of all Tennessee counties.

State Comptroller Justin Wilson urged local governments to follow the steps proposed by auditors in order to prevent future thefts.