The auditors were dispatched by the governor’s office at Belton’s request to help the financially troubled city sort out its books.

“One of their main goals was to shore up our liabilities and obligations,” Belton said, adding that the auditors found that about $4.5 million had been depleted from “some internal accounts” without the city’s knowledge.

Belton would not elaborate on the missing funds until the auditors had completed their work.

Other obligations stem from $2 million owed to Petersburg’s school system and larger amounts due to several vendors, including Riverside Regional Jail and the Virginia Retirement System. A total of $2.5 million was carried over from the last fiscal year, which ended June 30.

“When you have a deficit, it just keeps rolling forward,” Belton said. “We are working very diligently to do long-term finance restructuring, and we’re still trying to break down exactly the causation (for the deficit), but we do know the number of delinquent accounts that we have.”

Beyond the 10 percent salary cut, Belton and her team had developed three additional proposals to accommodate the council’s request to reduce personnel costs.