Former MS Coast mayor responds to criticism over city’s financial turmoil

After weeks of financial turmoil in Pass Christian, former mayor Jimmy Rafferty is responding to blame with a blunt message.

“Mistakes were made under my watch,” he said in an interview. “I take full responsibility.”

Rafferty, who lost his re-election bid and left office in June, also sought to clarify his record. He pledged support for the new mayor and Board of Aldermen. But Rafferty said claims that Pass Christian is broke are incorrect, and he urged the new mayor and two re-elected aldermen to share some accountability for problems that began when they served in office alongside him.

“There’s a lot of just pointing fingers,” Rafferty said.

The former mayor agreed this week to discuss several challenges that have troubled the small Mississippi Coast city for months. The Pass Christian Board of Aldermen has asked the State Auditor’s Office to investigate possible financial mismanagement in several city departments, where they have said they are still tracking down money. Pass Christian is raising property taxes to escape a deficit and bracing for possible Internal Revenue Service fines. The city is also nearly two years behind schedule on audits and is facing lawsuits from two fired employees.

Pass Christian’s new mayor, Kenny Torgeson, and other city leaders have blamed Rafferty’s administration for the issues.

“As much as I hate to raise taxes, it isn’t our fault,” Torgeson, a longtime alderman who defeated Rafferty last spring, said during a recent meeting. “We’re dealing with problems from the previous administration.”

Under Pass Christian’s form of government, the mayor manages the city and makes recommendations to the Board of Aldermen, whose members vote to approve or deny every policy and budget. The mayor does not vote. Aldermen Victor Pickich and Kirk Kimball both served on the Board with Torgeson when Rafferty was mayor.

Torgeson said the Board had limited power to fix problems that began under Rafferty because members cannot access financial information in City Hall and must rely on employees in the mayor’s office to provide it. Rafferty and Torgeson said a former employee made accounting mistakes that gave the mayor and Board inaccurate information as they tried to set previous years’ budgets.

“The Board of Aldermen voted for what we were told was true and correct,” Torgeson said. “There was no other way that we could get any better information than that at the time.”

Rafferty responds to criticism

Rafferty said repeatedly that he takes “full responsibility” for mistakes that happened when he was mayor. But he also pushed back on some criticism. “Everyone is blaming Mayor Rafferty for everything,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair.”

Rafferty said he supports the Board’s decision to ask for an investigation in the city’s code, water and harbor departments. He said he first learned of issues in the departments last spring but did not know the magnitude of the problems or how long they had persisted. He said he helped hire extra staff to support the city’s initial inquiry but did not share specific details about what the city was investigating.

He also said blaming him does not fully explain what led to all the city’s challenges.

Rafferty and other leaders said the city overestimated how much it could spend when the Board mistakenly adopted a budget with a deficit last year. The city tightened its budget and cut costs when the Board learned of the problem. City leaders have also said the delay in audits, which act as an accountability measure for city finances, only compounded the issues.

Torgeson and other city officials have also said that, under Rafferty’s leadership, Pass Christian ended 2024 in a nearly $900,000 deficit. They have argued that raising taxes is the only escape from the shortfall.

Rafferty gave a different explanation: Pass Christian is among the fastest-growing cities in Mississippi and needs more revenue to provide services to citizens.

“They’re saying we have to increase taxes because of all the mess Jimmy made,” Rafferty said. “One of the big reasons why we’re having to increase taxes is because right now the city is growing.”

Former mayor says city is financially safe

Pass Christian had nearly $8.5 million held across several bank accounts when Rafferty left office at the end of June. The balance is more than the city’s annual budget.

Current leaders have said the $8.5 million balance does not reflect how much cash the city has on hand because some of the money must cover outstanding payments and contracts. But City Clerk Marian Governor, who oversees Pass Christian’s finances, said last month that she had never called the city “broke.”

Rafferty said he secured millions of grant dollars as mayor, and he urged new leaders to use it to build infrastructure, including more sidewalks and a harbor pavilion. The new mayor and Board have said they are focused on resolving the financial issues, rather than development projects.

Rafferty said he supports them regardless.

“I’m tired of all this negativity,” he said. “I’d just like to see us all work together.”