The Mayor’s Office today received the initial draft of the review of the Hospitality Account from County Commission’s Internal Auditor. The eight-page report was delivered this morning via e-mail. The Mayor’s Office will immediately begin reviewing the report and preparing its response.
The Hospitality Fund was established in 2002 to allow private and corporate donations for events that were appropriate for Knox County’s participation but where the Mayor’s Office preferred not to use taxpayer monies. During the time the account was open, it was used to support events such as the Smithsonian’s United We Stand exhibit at the East Tennessee History Center, the Regional Clean Air Coalition Summit, the publication of a Family Disaster Preparedness Guide in the Knoxville News Sentinel and receptions for officials from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee and the Appalachian Regional Coalition.
On initial review, recommendations in the report are limited to accounting or procedural changes in how such a fund should be administered; however, the account was closed almost a year ago, in July 2007.
Mayor Ragsdale expressed the administration’s appreciation for Mr. Wall’s work in preparing the report and noted, “Let’s be very clear. The Hospitality Fund involved no taxpayer dollars, supported good public projects, donations were approved in the budget and at the end of the day, and according to the audit, the county realized a $20,000 gain. In these tough economic times, most folks think we should use more private dollars to support projects like these.”
In order to provide a thorough, detailed and complete response, the Mayor’s Office has requested a fifteen-day extension to submit a reply to the auditor. Please check the Knox County website at www.knoxcounty.org regularly for updates on the Mayor’s Office response to the report.
