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Richmond city officials pushed back against a TV news report Thursday that suggested $28.6 million “had gone missing from city finances,” saying the story showed a misunderstanding of basic accounting principles.

“You have those who are not professionals in accounting making mistakes in reporting information out to the public,” Selena Cuffee-Glenn, the city’s chief administrative officer, told members of Richmond City Council’s government operations committee.

The committee members asked for an explanation after local news station WWBT, the local NBC affiliate, published a report that said “an air of crisis and a multi-million dollar miasma now pervades parts of City Hall, after an internal report obtained by NBC12 details how $28.6 million is missing from Richmond city coffers.”

After hearing the administration’s explanation, the three council members present Thursday — Jonathan T. Baliles, Cynthia I. Newbille and Charles R. Samuels — said the matter did not appear to be a cause for concern, though Baliles and Samuels said they would follow up to make sure documentation the administration said it would provide backs up the explanation they were provided.