Compton officials overpaid themselves, charged questionable trips on city-issued credit cards and failed to safeguard taxpayer money, resulting in a staffer stealing millions of dollars over years, according to a state audit.
The city of Compton’s weak financial oversight and rampant overspending turned a general fund surplus of $22.4 million a decade ago into a deficit of $42.7 million just three years later. Even after officials adopted a plan to repay the debt in 2014, the deficit increased by $6.4 million the next year.
The California state controller review, released Thursday, found that the city received failing marks in 71 out of the 79 measures assessing internal accounting and administrative controls, a score that ranks Compton’s accountability as “nonexistent,” state Controller Betty Yee said.
“The City Council’s brazen overspending contributed to the city’s financial hardship,” Yee said. “Clearly, the City Council needs to right the ship.”
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