THE MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

Overview

Camp Shelby, an 8,000-acre state-owned National Guard training facility located south of Hattiesburg, is used by military personnel from Mississippi and other states. The Adjutant General administers Camp Shelby with the support of the National Guard Bureau.

State law authorizes the Military Department to cut and sell timber from the Camp Shelby Military Reservation to the highest bidder. The State Forestry Commission must determine the areas for cutting. All proceeds from these timber sales are to be deposited into a revolving fund in the state Treasury. The law requires the Military Department to expend timbercutting proceeds on the maintenance, development, and improvement of the Camp Shelby Military Reservation.

PEER received complaints that the Military Department's Timber Fund was being used to purchase items which were not authorized by the statutes relating to the fund. PEER reviewed Timber Fund expenditures for FY 1991 through FY 1995 to determine whether the Military Department had operated the fund in accordance with state law.

Overview

The Military Department has expended approximately $103,000 from the Timber Fund to purchase items which do not contribute to the maintenance, development, or improvement of the Camp Shelby Military Reservation. These purchases include items such as:

• furniture and housewares;
• television sets, videocassette recorders, and radios;
• television satellite dishes and programming;
• Civil War prints for the Adjutant General's Camp Shelby office and living quarters;
• deck furniture and barbecue grills; and,
• golf caps.

Although some of these items may enhance the living conditions of Camp Shelby personnel, they do not constitute a permanent change which increases the value of the facilities and thus are not a proper use of the Timber Fund.

Recommendations

1. The Legislature should include the following within its annual appropriation bill for the Military Department's Timber Fund:

• a requirement that the Military Department adhere to definitions used by the Department of Finance and Administration's Office of Building, Grounds, and Real Property Management for state capital improvement projects;
• restrictions on expenditures to items which contribute directly to the maintenance, development, or improvement of Camp Shelby; and,
• a requirement that the Military Department submit annually to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee an itemized listing of expenditures from the Timber Fund, specifically those relating to construction projects.

2. The Legislature should amend MISS. CODE ANN. Section 33-11-18 to require the State Auditor to conduct an annual audit of the Military Department's expenditure of funds from the Timber Fund.

3. The State Auditor and Attorney General should review the inappropriate expenditure of $103,000 identified by PEER and determine which portion of these funds should be recovered from Military Department personnel.

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