In a report released today, Mississippi’s state auditor ordered the interim president of Mississippi State University, Vance H. Watson, to pay $12,333 to cover the cost of landscaping work he authorized at the home of the state’s higher-education commissioner, Thomas C. Meredith, The Clarion-Ledger, a newspaper in Jackson, Miss., reported.

The work, done in March 2007, involved the planting of a dozen or more magnolia trees at the university’s expense. Mr. Watson, who at the time was a vice president in charge of the university’s division for agriculture and veterinary medicine, has already paid the requested amount into a state fund, and it will be returned to Mississippi State, the auditor’s office said in a news release. Mr. Watson became the university’s interim president last March and has said he would like to have the position on a permanent basis.

The state’s coordinating board for higher education asked Mr. Meredith to step aside as commissioner last month, pending the auditor’s investigation. The board discussed the auditor’s report in closed session today, The Clarion-Ledger said, but took no action. Mr. Meredith will remain on paid leave for the time being, the board’s president, Amy Whitten, told the newspaper. The commissioner said he was happy with the report, which he said exonerated him.

The board has said that the investigation will not delay its plan to select a permanent president for Mississippi State by November 1. —Charles Huckabee