MEMPHIS, Tenn. — After taking a deeper look into Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert’s operations, evidence shows that Halbert has been late on every county financial report for years.

Today is the third day customers have not been able to go to the Poplar Plaza branch of the Shelby County Clerk’s Office for service.

One day after doors were locked abruptly and moving trucks emptied the Poplar Plaza branch of the Shelby County Clerk’s Office, County Clerk Wanda Halbert blamed financial issues involving Shelby County for ongoing problems with her office.

Halbert stated in a press conference Thursday that reports that an East Memphis branch office was evicted due to non-payment of rent are untrue.

“I don’t want to be accused of one cent missing, that we document every single penny, and that number is very different from what it used to look like,” said Halbert.

Shelby County Trustee Regina Newman says that County officials who collect money like Halbert are required to turn in a report every 10th of the month on revenue from the prior month.

“We have no reports back to July 2021 that the Clerk has submitted by the 10^th of the month, that are accurate,” said Newman.

Newman provided a document showing the more than two years Halbert has turned reports in late.

The highlighted columns show that for more than a year, the late reports also had incomplete information.

“It’s something that the county needs to track revenues and right not we don’t get it,” said Newman.

The December 2021 column shows how that report wasn’t properly filed until January 2023, nearly a year late.

“It was extremely bad in the year 2022,” said Newman.

Newman says that it is up to the commission to put consequences in place for the late reports.

WREG has reached out to Halbert multiple times but we have not heard back.