Audits Adding Up

No word yet from New Mexican state auditors on the scope of audit they intend to conduct in the city of Santa Fe as to the whereabouts of $30 million in taxpayer money. It’s a mystery that still weighs heavily on city councilors, who have turned to the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor for help.

It’s been nearly three weeks since the Santa Fe City Council turned to the state agency after it had a hard time deciphering the reams of financial information the city administration unloaded on them as proof that improvements were indeed made to more than 50 city parks.Not one penny of taxpayer money was misspent, misplaced or misappropriated, the city administration told the council, releasing thousands of documents and hundreds of photographs as a way of exonerating itself, but councilors decided it was best to let the state untangle everything through an audit.Liza Kerr, the city’s internal auditor, is guessing that the pending audit could cost the city between $100,000 and $150,000. But she emphasized the price was merely a guess—a ballpark figure—and that there’s really no way of knowing until the state auditor’s office releases more information.In late May, Mayor Javier Gonzales, offering no apologies or reservations, said the city should be prepared to pay for an expensive audit. “Make no mistake, this audit is going to be expensive," Gonzales said. "It’s important that we spend the money to assure there is financial accountability in place.” Audits on the missing money, which might not be missing at all and may very well have been spent properly, are beginning to add up.The initial audit, conducted by REDW Inc. in Albuquerque a little over four months ago, cost the city $50,000. But it ended up creating more questions than actually answering them, painting an overall picture of an unorganized city finance department that was haphazard in its accounting of park improvements. And the audit itself, and its potential for accuracy, has been called into question.Conducted in the first week of February, auditors showed up on a Monday but essentially didn’t start working until Thursday, because the finance department didn’t have all the required documents they required, Kerr tells SFR in an exclusive interview this week.Kerr says auditors were expecting a spreadsheet that would list project costs, payroll records, money spent, and funds left over from the bond measure, which was approved by voters in March 2008 by a 70 to 30 percent vote.But instead, city finance officials basically brought the auditors boxes of material concerning all the projects, and there was nothing relevant inside the boxes, Kerr says.On Friday, their last day of what was designed to be a week’s work, Kerr said says auditors conducted “field work” by exploring some of the parks firsthand and then headed back to their offices in Albuquerque.“I’m not pointing the blame at anyone,” Kerr says. “But they just weren’t given the documents. The documents weren’t available.”In mid-April, in the wake of the critical audit, the city staff finally managed to compile thousands of documents and track down payroll records and receipts. Photographs of the improvements were also released as well.Every penny could be accounted for, city staff said in mid-May. It’s just that the records were widespread and scattered throughout different city departments, and nobody knew where they were.In their defense, city officials have said that turnover in the administration, particularly with city finance directors, has plagued accurate record keeping, and that Oscar Rodriguez, the current city finance director, was relatively new to the city when auditors started asking for records.Complicating matters was the fact that some of the park improvements were made in-house in order to save jobs during the fall recession of 2008—just months after the bond was passed in the spring.But the Santa Fe City Council decided the measure was too little, too late and is looking to the state for help in the matter.More information will be made available at a July 13 city finance meeting, set for 4 pm.

Santa Fe Reporter