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The Fiscal Management Board’s state travel agency contract has produced $25,520 in commissions for the state’s general fund. In addition, the board reported $1,672,260 in cost avoidance.
PEER reviewed state laws regulating Mississippi’s electric power associations and municipal utilities to determine whether they should be revised to improve operational efficiency, governance and oversight. PEER concludes that the federal government, through the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the Rural Electrification Association, provides acceptable levels of oversight over utilities which fall within the purview of these agencies. Electric power associations and municipal electric utilities outside the jurisdiction of these two federal agencies are responsible for policing their own actions. State agencies, such as the Public Service Commission and the Department of Audit, have limited statutory oversight authority.
PEER also performed a comparison of electric power association and municipal electric utility cost data and found that the lower energy cost of TVA-generated power is a plus for those utilities within the TVA service area, and those that have higher concentrations of consumers per line mile are generally able to pass the savings on to the consumer. The fact that some municipal electric utilities are permitted to transfer excess revenue to the city general fund is correlated with higher levels of consumer markup, but the relationship needs additional study to establish the exact impact on the consumer.
The Legislature created the Mississippi Housing Finance Corporation (MHFC) to “finance the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation and improvement of residential housing for persons of low and moderate income within the state.” Although MHFC has done a good job of financing its operations and mortgage loan programs through the issuance of tax-exempt bonds, the program could have addressed more low- and moderate-income people. MHFC made 51 percent of its loans to residents whose adjusted gross incomes exceeded low and moderate levels. In addition, more than three-fourths of all MHFC mortgagors purchased houses with sales prices higher than the state adjusted median.
This report is a statewide review of administrative control and oversight of state-owned passenger vehicles. PEER inspected 180 sample vehicles and determined that forty, or 22%, are not economically justified. With regard to state-level controls, PEER concluded that the state’s procurement and disposal procedures for passenger vehicles are adequate. However, the State Auditor has not compiled a unified master property inventory and has not consistently enforced state vehicle marking requirements. PEER noted agency control practices/procedures which were particularly effective.
This report examines the status of PERS’s Board of Trustees as a governmental agency and concludes that the board is a state agency subject to fiscal controls imposed by state law. The report concludes that PERS’ staff expended funds for investment managers’ fees without legal authority and failed to disclose the expenditures formally to the Legislature.
The report recommends that the Board of Trustees forbear expending funds over which it has control but has no legal authority to expend, and that the Legislative Budget Office require the board to disclose all contemplated expenditures in its annual budget request.
The State Personnel Board should engage in strategic planning, improve the sophistication and technical precision of staff operations, and increase its level of communications and services to state agencies. The board’s strong posturing in salary budget control and its regulatory activities clash with the board’s mission to assist state agency heads in organizing and motivating the state work force. The variable compensation plan as designed was a model program, but in recent years the board has not administered the “realignment” feature in accordance with the original concept. Although conducted in good faith by the board’s staff, labor market surveys are methodologically flawed by sample selection oversights, subjective adjustments, and erroneous interpretations which result in incomplete and inaccurate comparative data on the salary levels needed to attract applicants and retain state employees.
The Department of Economic Development and the Research and Development Center presently duplicate only a limited number of activities, but service areas are moving toward greater duplication. PEER recommends reorganizing the department and the Research and Development Center to capitalize on the state’s scarce economic development resources. Despite having competent developers and an executive director whose qualifications exceed those set by law, the department’s effectiveness is impaired by failure to maximize agency resources, failure to seriously assess program effectiveness, lack of accountability concerning agency achievement, questionable use of “jobs-created” numbers, and a serious employee morale problem.
The Committee reviewed the Mississippi State Highway Department’s right-of-way acquisition procedures to determine whether the department coerced landowners into selling property at a price lower than market value. PEER concludes that the department’s procedures appear adequate and provide reasonable protection to private landowners. Several weaknesses should be corrected, however, to increase customer satisfaction and reduce the frequency of costly and time-consuming condemnation cases.
PEER reviewed the Department of Economic Development’s Division of Tourism’s purchase of the 1987 Mississippi Travel Guide. The division made the purchase agreement without receiving competitive bids; the agreement allows Savoir-Faire, Inc., a private magazine publisher, to be the sole provider of the state’s travel guide and receive all related advertising revenue. While the PEER Committee supports Division of Tourism efforts to contain costs and effectively deliver services, the Committee does not endorse this method of contracting because it places the state in a position which could potentially affect the competitive balance that exists in the private publishing industry.
State law gives conservation officers authority to enforce game laws on private lands once probable cause has been established. PEER’s analysis of a representative sample of citations revealed no patterns to support allegations of territorialism in game law enforcement. However, the department’s citation recordkeeping procedures do not assure that all fine monies due the department are remitted accurately and in a timely manner. PEER reported these same weaknesses in 1982.
PEER also concluded that a Conservation Officer Supervisor’s enforcement of trespassing laws in Montgomery County in 1986 was legal and not an act of “territorialism.”
The East Mississippi Junior College (EMJC) District includes the Main Campus at Scooba, the Golden Triangle Vocational-Technical Center (GTVTC) branch campus at Mayhew, and offers extension courses at several locations, including Columbus Air Force Base.
This report answers specific questions submitted by legislative request:
Also, EMJC awarded 241 scholarships to 165 students (of a total of 385 students enrolled) at Scooba campus for the 1986-87 term, and PEER noted that in 1984 EMJC purchased a used bus using specifications designed to fit a bus previously selected.
PEER reviewed the state’s charity hospitals to assess their efficiency, financial management, use of federal grant resources, and to analyze statewide indigent medical care options.
Findings by federal physician review teams, a medical consultant employed by the PEER Committee, and the state Department of Health Facility Licensure and Certification Division reveal serious deficiencies concerning the quality of health care provided at the state charity hospitals. On October 1, 1986, federal outpatient clinic grants previously awarded to the hospitals were not renewed due primarily to the quality of health care provided at the hospitals. The Eleemosynary Board, which governs the hospitals, also failed to fully utilize federal grant resources, implement uniform and adequate accounts receivable policies and procedures, or to institute sufficient accounting internal control principles.
The Legislature has numerous options available should it decide to alter current indigent health care strategies.
PEER reviewed the Memorial Stadium Commission, identified managerial and operational deficiencies, and made recommendations to address the weaknesses identified. However, should the Legislature determine that a significant change in the governance of the stadium is necessary, the following options could be considered: (1) abolish the current Stadium Commission and transfer governance and operation of the stadium to the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning, or (2) restructure the Stadium Commission to include representatives who have a direct interest in the events held at the stadium.
In addition, PEER suggests a method whereby existing stadium investments and revenue sources could be redirected to promote better facility utilization.