Ruth Coleman, California parks director, resigns amid budget irregularities
Posted:
07/20/2012 11:51:39 AM PDT
Updated:
07/20/2012 05:45:12 PM PDT
Click photo to enlarge
FILE -- In this May 13, 2011 file photo Ruth Coleman, director of... ( Rich Pedroncelli )
SACRAMENTO
-- The director of California's state parks system resigned Friday
after officials discovered that her department had $54 million of
unspent money in its accounts that it had not reported to the Department
of Finance, even while the state said parks were so short of money that
many needed to be closed.
Ruth Coleman, who had led the agency
since 2003, stepped down, and the department's second-in-command, Acting
Chief Deputy Director Michael Harris, was fired.
California
Natural Resources Secretary John Laird said the state Attorney General's
Office will be investigating and the Department of Finance will be
conducting a comprehensive audit.
"It's our goal to make sure we get to the bottom of this," Laird said.
Laird
said that the parks department had shielded from finance officials
$20.4 million in an account that takes money from park entrance fees and
concession contracts, as well as $33.5 million in a state fund for
off-highway vehicle parks.
The disclosure comes at a politically
difficult time for Gov. Jerry Brown, who pushed for more than a year to
close 70 state parks -- one quarter of the entire park system -- to save
$22 million as part of efforts to balance the state's budget.
"This
is deeply disappointing because we just went to many partners around
the state to get them to step up and cover the shortfall," Laird said.
"I'm truly sorry about that."
The parks had been scheduled to close on July
1. But they didn't after dozens of private groups, cities and private companies came forward with donations.
Brown is asking voters to raise taxes in the November election, and polls show that the vote will be tight.
In
an interview with the Mercury News on Friday, Coleman said she didn't
know about the accounting problems until several days ago.
"I was
not aware of this excess fund balance," she said. "We were beginning
actions to correct it. But I do take responsibility for actions of
staff."
Coleman said no taxpayer money is missing and that no
funds were embezzled. Laird said a preliminary investigation showed the
underreporting of the money began at least 12 years ago, under Gov. Gray
Davis' former parks director, Rusty Areias.
"It was an action to keep it accumulating and not report it, not an action to spend it," Laird said.
He said he does not know how many people were aware of the money, or what their motivation was to keeping it hidden.
One
parks department official who requested anonymity said it appears there
was an error in accounting formulas years ago, and that as the money
accumulated in the funds, staff members did not want to admit the
mistake, possibly for fear that the finance department would take the
money away.
The disclosure is the second major hit this month for
the state parks department. On Sunday, the Sacramento Bee reported that
former deputy parks director Manuel Lopez had approved $271,000 in
vacation buybacks for parks staffers without authorization.
Coleman had demoted Lopez in October. Then he resigned under pressure in May.
On Friday, Coleman said Lopez was responsible for concealing the $54 million in unreported money.
"It was part of his job," she said. "He did not elevate it to my attention."
She
said she learned of the problem when Lopez's successor, Aaron
Robertson, uncovered it as part of an investigation into Lopez's
actions. Calls to Lopez went unanswered Friday.
Court records show
that Lopez, who lives in Granite Bay, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday in
U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento. He reported $648,759 in assets and
$707,748 in debts.
Friday's political fallout was swift.
Officials
in Sonoma County pulled a $17 million parks funding measure planned for
the county ballot in November. "I don't see how we can go forward,"
Caryl Hart, Sonoma County's regional parks director, told the Santa Rosa
Press Democrat.
Lawmakers in Sacramento said they were outraged.
"Where
does it end? If one department can hoard $54 million for 12 years, who
else is playing the same tricks of deceit and thievery?" said state Sen.
Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa.
The chairman of the Assembly Budget
Committee, Bill Blumenfield, D-Van Nuys, announced that his committee
will open hearings into the parks funding irregularities in August.
Larry
Gerston, a professor of political science at San Jose State University,
called the issue "a black eye" that won't help the governor as he tries
to build trust and support for his tax measure.
"It's hard to cry
wolf and say you are out of everything when there are accounts like
this lying around," Gerston said. "But rushing to judgment with so many
questions unanswered is probably not a wise thing to do."
Coleman
said she hopes the extra money will be used to help shore up the state's
ailing parks system, which has a $1.3 billion maintenance backlog,
rather than spent other ways by the Legislature.
California Natural Resources Agency Undersecretary Janelle Beland has been appointed by Brown as acting interim parks director.
