As a state deadline for Marion to turn in its 2023 audit came and went last week, City Hall and state environmental officials had not given a clear public answer about whether the city met it.
In a November 19 letter, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) told Marion that its audited financial statements for the 2023 fiscal year had to be completed and submitted by December 22, 2025. The audit is a condition of continued state and federal funding for the city’s ongoing water and sewer projects.
Earlier this month, the Times-Standard-Herald filed a public records request with ADEM asking whether Marion had met its audit deadlines and requesting documents showing the current status of ADEM-funded water and sewer work in the city. As of press time, ADEM had acknowledged receipt of the request but had not answered the question of whether the 2023 audit has actually been received.
At the same time, the paper has been seeking basic financial and public records from City Hall and from the state office that keeps many local audits on file.
State Agencies and Audit Records
ADEM and the Alabama Examiners of Public Accounts are separate agencies. ADEM oversees environmental permits and funding, including the money paying for Marion’s water and sewer projects. The Examiners are the state’s audit arm. They routinely audit counties, school boards and certain other entities, and they also maintain a repository of audits for many cities and public bodies when those audits are sent to them.
There is no indication that Marion is under a current audit by the Examiners, and cities are not automatically required to file every annual audit with that office. Even so, when the Times-Standard-Herald asked what the Examiners had on file for Marion, the answer stopped several years short of the present.
The Examiners’ office told the paper that the last Marion audit in its repository is for the 2020 fiscal year, and that it was not submitted until 2022. The office said it has no audits from Marion for 2021 forward.
That does not necessarily mean later audits do not exist. Earlier this month, the Times-Standard-Herald reported on the contents of Marion’s 2022 audit. That report shows a city heavily dependent on water and sewer revenue and struggling with basic financial controls. According to the Examiners, however, that 2022 audit had never been turned in to their office.
Requests to City Hall
While those questions are hanging at the state level, the paper has also been asking the city itself for records that could help fill in the gaps.
On December 2 and 3, the Times-Standard-Herald submitted several written public records requests to Mayor Dexter Hinton and City Clerk and Treasurer Laura Hinton under Alabama’s recently updated Open Records Act. Those requests seek documents including copies of city ordinances and public notices adopted or issued since April 1, 2024; certain other financial records; and documents connected to major public works expenditures.
For more than two weeks, those requests received no response from City Hall. On December 19, Clerk Hinton acknowledged the requests in an email and said the records would be made available sometime in January 2026. The city did not give a specific date.
Under changes to state law that took effect this year, public bodies are now required to acknowledge proper public records requests within ten business days and to provide a response within a set period, either by producing the records, denying the request, or explaining the need for more time.
Unanswered Questions
Between ADEM, the Examiners, and City Hall, there is still no clear public answer to a basic question: whether Marion’s 2023 audit has been completed and submitted in time to satisfy the conditions on its water and sewer funding, and how the city’s books look today.
The Times-Standard-Herald will continue to seek those records from ADEM, the Examiners, and the City of Marion, and will report on what the documents show about how the city is handling its water projects and other public funds.
