Cobb County cited for $70 funds discrepancy

MARIETTA - As it turns out, Cobb County&#39;s discrepancy in spending federal anti-terrorism money was not so terrible after all. <br> <br> The Justice Department&#39;s inspector general released a report Monday that cited Cobb as one of six government agencies that could not account for how they spent a total of $65 million. <br> <br> But the metro Atlanta county&#39;s portion of that was just $70, officials said Tuesday. <br> <br> Deputy Fire Chief Mike Ellington was surprised to see his department lumped in with a report on $65 million of missing money. <br> <br> A 2001 audit ``lasted for three or four days, and everything went great,&#39;&#39; Ellington said. ``We assumed that was the case.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> On March 22, he said, the county received notice that there was a discrepancy of $70. ``But nobody could tell us what it was,&#39;&#39; Ellington said. <br> <br> That didn&#39;t stop the Justice Department from reporting that Cobb was not in compliance with federal regulations. <br> <br> Ellington said that even if the descrepancy was legitimate, a number of items the county bought with the money were expendable, such as chemicals. <br> <br> ``But even so, we received $250,000 from the federal government for anti-terrorism equipment. Having accountability for all but $70, if there really is a descrepancy, isn&#39;t too bad,&#39;&#39; he said.