Mount Vernon officials say they're rebounding from financial mismanagement by their predecessors over the last several years. 

Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard publicly went after the now-former comptroller, who state auditors blamed for making several unauthorized payments and withdrawals from city funds.   

"That's real Mount Vernon energy -- calling you out on what you've done,” says Bre Francis, the owner of Toss’t and Press’t. “So, the fact that she's done that, it means she's saying that she would never do something like that." 

The new comptroller, Darren Morton, told the city council, he found that the city has failed to collect $25 million in back-property taxes from 1,200 properties over the past 8 years. 

Morton says he is working on a system to go back and get that money, but also help people stay in their homes.  

The city's going to hold at least one auction next year to sell the properties it takes over from owners who don't pay their taxes. 

Currently, the city has pretty much zero in savings.