MS Auditor Shad White to release study identifying $250 million in state government waste

The Mississippi State Auditor's Office has paid an internationally known consulting firm $2 million to find more than $250 million of fat to trim from the state government.

On Tuesday, State Auditor Shad White posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he will soon release a report from Boston Consulting Group, which was contracted and paid the $2 million to review state office budgets, expenses and staffs to then make recommendations on what should change.

"There's simply too much fat in state government, and it was time to take a chainsaw to it," White wrote. "That money should be going to the things that actually benefit us, like roads, bridges, teacher salaries, cops, and tax cuts — the stuff that will keep our economy moving forward."

Mississippi State Auditor Office Communications Director Jacob Walters said that the office staff are currently finalizing the report and hope to have it released for the public to review in the coming weeks.

Walters added that while the goal of the project was to identify $250 million in waste, the report submitted by BCG held a much larger dollar amount. Walters declined to give an exact figure.

"It's coming out very, very soon," Walters said.

BCG is an international company that originally began in the United States. The company has completed similar work in other states as well, such as North Carolina and Texas.

Can the state auditor contract out audit studies?

The contract, which was approved in October, might seem to be an odd job for the auditor hire out. After all, even if it is just a study, it's typically the Mississippi Legislature and its members who tout their efforts to find fat to cut from state government.

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However, according to Walters, White's office has the authority to hire out the work if it deems it necessary to perform key functions, citing Mississippi code 7-7-211 as giving White the authority to spend office funds on a work contract.

"People here at the State Auditor's Office have worked here a long time, and they're experts in what we can and can't do," Walters added.

The state code itself also says that it is the responsibility of the White's office "to report to the Legislature at periodic times the extent to which each office is maintaining such systems, along with such recommendations to the Legislature for improvement as seem desirable."

The State Auditor's Office cannot implement any changes it plans to recommend. That is the job of the Mississippi Legislature.

In his post to X, White called the effort the most important thing he will do as state auditor.

"It's one of the most exhaustive studies of Mississippi government in the modern era," White wrote. "…The point is that this is a watershed moment for modernizing Mississippi's government and making that government work better for her people."

The funds that paid for the project did not come from the Mississippi Legislature, as no appropriation was given by lawmakers this year or in 2023 for the study. Walters said the money came from the agency's budget because the study is considered an audit project, which can be paid for through the agency's own coffers.

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Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MS Auditor paid consulting firm to study state agency budgets, expenses