SOUTHAVEN, MS (abc24.com) - The check's in the mail, or it soon will be. Southaven Mayor Greg Davis says he will be mailing a check to the Mississippi State Auditor either Wednesday, December 7th or Thursday the 8th.
Last Friday, December 2nd, was the 30-day deadline given to Davis to repay $170,000 the state claims was spent on personal, not city, business. What's still unclear is how much Davis is paying.
"I don't know. I don't have an amount other than to say it's a substantial partial payment. We won't know until we receive it," says Lisa Shoemaker, communications director for the auditor's office. "We weren't given that information. We're just anticipating a check. When it comes in the mail we'll report back."
The auditor's office does say the total Davis owes will not go down by more than $44,000, meaning Davis is on the line for at least $126,000.
"At the most, what's in dispute right now is $44,000," Shoemaker tells abc24.com. "That is the most it could change at this point."
The auditor is still verifying ten receipts sent to Southaven's Board of Alderman last week to review.
"Depending on what we get back from them hopefully we can make a final determination very soon on what's allowed and what's not allowed," Shoemaker says.
"We feel like we've turned in enough legitimate receipts to help get this below $100,000," Davis says. "If there's some discussion of those receipts we'll have to do that obviously."
As far how the mayor plans to pay the money, he tells abc24.com a fund was put together by his supporters at the DeSoto Bank off Getwell Road in Southaven.
"There is a fund being collected. Until we find out what the total owed is and depending on what the auditor does with our receipts, we'll have to see what we do at that point," says Davis,
The mayor won't say exactly how much has been donated, but has said it could be more than $100,000. Davis hopes to have this resolved as soon as possible.
"I am longing for the day that this comes to an end and we can get back to the normal day to day operations of the city," he says.
As far as a lawsuit coming out of all this, the auditor's office says they will not file any civil charges if all the money is repaid. As for criminal charges, they're still not commenting, saying they'll release something on that in the next week or so.
