State Auditor’s office finds waste in boards and commissions

JACKSON, Miss., (VDN) — Many state boards and commissions are inefficient and have duplicative back-office functions according to a new report released by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor.

“My team just completed a review of 19 small- and medium-sized state boards,” said Auditor White, “and we found some operating well but most had room to improve.”

For example, this year the Mississippi State Senate adjourned without approving Governor Reeves’s nominees to the Board of Cosmetology and Barbering, which means qualified barbers and cosmetologists have been unable to obtain a license to work while complaints of unsafe practices have gone unaddressed. Of the boards and commissions analyzed, 14 are responsible for licensing. When licensing boards don’t operate efficiently, Mississippians looking to work suffer the consequences.

“We also found small boards and commissions often operate inefficient back-office functions which should be consolidated to save taxpayer money,” added White. “Every time I see waste, I think about the teachers’ salaries, cops’ salaries, or tax cuts we could have if we cut the fat.”

Analysts at the State Auditor’s Office identified opportunities to save taxpayer funds across the 19 boards and commissions, like:

• Boards and commissions contracted accounting and administrative services to private vendors but paid wildly different prices. For example, the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance is almost four times larger than the Board of Professional Licensed Counselors but spent 50% less on contracting similar accounting services. Mississippi could centralize administrative functions into one office within the Department of Finance and Administration and save funds.
• Digitizing correspondence and mailing systems would save taxpayer money by eliminating the need to purchase some paper, stamps, and envelopes.
• Some agencies had large backlogs of unresolved complaints against licensees. Boards and commissions facing a complaint backlog should adopt artificial intelligence platforms or other appropriate measures to resolve the complaint backlog more efficiently.

The full report can be found here. It can also be found under the “Reports” tab on the Auditor’s website and searching “Boards and Commissions.”