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Brentwood officials say Mayor Xzavier Montgomery-Wright has charged thousand of dollars on an unauthorized debit card since January without the approval of council members.

At the Dec. 15 council meeting, Councilwoman Marlene Robinson cited "over 50 unauthorized expenditures" she discovered while going over town disbursement records that she said had not been explained by the mayor or the town treasurer.

Montgomery-Wright, who was not present at the meeting because she was out of the country, denied the charges upon her return.

"I have been fully supportive to provide the council with everything that they need," Montgomery-Wright said. "I am there as always to work with the council. There has been no legal action taken upon me."

The council will meet in executive session in January to discuss all of the charges.

Receipts and justifications for all charges will be provided at the meeting, and a public statement from the mayor, council and the town's attorney will follow, Montgomery-Wright said.

Among the unauthorized charges outlined was a $323 plane ticket, initially authorized by the council so the mayor could attend a conference that was ultimately used to go someplace else, and more than $2,400 in cell phone charges, Robinson said.

Montgomery-Wright said that a non-refundable, non-transferable ticket was purchased for her to attend a conference of mayors in Alabama. When that conference was canceled, the ticket was used to attend a different conference of mayors, also in Alabama, she said.

Montgomery-Wright said that she frequently uses her personal cell phone for town business, and has a portion of her monthly stipend go directly to paying her cell-phone bill.

Montgomery-Wright said election-year politics were a likely motive for the accusations.

The next election is May 2, and all seats are up for a vote.

Montgomery-Wright also said that some of the council members might object to her style of governance.

"That is how I govern. ... I will continue to be a strong mayor and serve in that capacity," Montgomery-Wright said.

At the Dec. 15 meeting, Councilwoman Aneeka Harrison called for an external audit of the town's debit card purchases going back to the beginning of 2010.

"We need to make sure that we are safeguarding the town's money, period," Harrison said.

George Denny, who served as mayor for 18 years during the past three decades, said the town did not have a history of financial scandal.

Robinson supported the audit, but council members Nina Young and Jeffrey Clark voted against the motion, which failed.

Young advocated an internal investigation of the expenses before an outside auditor becomes involved, a move that she said would save money.

"There were debit card expenditures that were not on the disbursements. ... Do we all know that? Yes. Do we all agree that it was wrong? Yes," Young said. "We don't need to pay ... any amount of money to have somebody tell us what we already know."

Robinson and Harrison argued that an internal audit could be tainted.

"I don't have any faith that the information would be true, would be factual, or would be complete," Harrison said.

dleaderman@gazette.net