Reed Disputes Claim Atlanta May Have Mismanaged Up To $400,000 In Federal Funds
Federal investigators claim Atlanta city officials may have mismanaged up to $400,000 in grant money aimed at combating crime in Mechanicsville, Pittsburg, and other south Atlanta neighborhoods.
The funds were part of the federal Weed and Seed program. Officials with the U.S. Department of Justice claim lax internal controls at the city have made it difficult to track the money. A full report of the alleged mismanagement can be found as a PDF here.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, speaking at an annual ceremony honoring Atlanta police officers, didn’t discuss specifics of the report, but said he believes the amount misused is much lower than the reported $400,000.
“The events occurred – the overwhelming majority of them – before we ever took office. That’s what I’d say to the taxpayers,” said Reed. “And our opinion was there was $73,000 that should have been disallowed.”
During the flagged period between 2007 and 2010, Atlanta received a total of $1.1 million in Weed and Seed funds, the vast majority of which, Reed claims, was well-spent.
“The purpose of the Weed and Seed initiative was to push crime down in those communities by five percent. We’ve pushed crime down in those communities by forty percent, which is why we no longer have the program,” said Reed, adding it didn’t make him any less serious about reconciling auditing discrepancies with federal officials.
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