Former Nonprofit Exec Must Repay Gas Money

Mike Norton, the former executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District, recently got some bad news.

The investigative report by Arkansas Legislative Audit, which covered about a decade’s worth of the district’s financials, is complete. And the picture isn’t pretty.

In a nutshell, the auditors found out that instead of using grant funds to pay for grant projects, the district oftentimes used grant monies to pay for personnel salaries and delinquent grocery bills for Meals on Wheels.

Norton, of course, abruptly resigned back in September because his board of directors kind of knew what was going on and the writing was on the wall.

Among a lot of other things, what came to light in the auditor’s report is that Norton received both a car allowance and a mileage reimbursement. Since you’re only supposed to have one or the other, that’s a no-no.

From what a source told Whispers, no criminal charges will come out of the report. But the auditors have recommended that Norton pay back his mileage reimbursements dating back to 2012. How much, do you ask? Try $13,695, or enough to drive Norton crazy.