Audit eyes lake access permit cost increase to boost agency - TopicsExpress



          

Audit eyes lake access permit cost increase to boost agency revenues Saturday, December 06, 2014 - Updated: 4:08 AM By CAROLINE MURRAY Recorder News Staff Auditors from the state comptrollers office say the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District can generate more revenue and become a more efficient organization. Increasing fees for Great Sacandaga Lake permit holders was one recommendation the comptrollers office suggested. A recent audit determined money collected by the state agency, which governs the Great Sacandaga Lake, has not been sufficient to cover its annual financial needs. Auditors say the district can collect more money from statutory beneficiaries, hydropower agreements, and the lakes permit holders. The audit found no fault in the organizations cash management, permit fee billing and permit fee collection. However, auditors were critical of other practices such as facility maintenance, equipment inventories, time and attendance, past-due assessments and procurement. The office of state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli on Thursday released the report, which reviewed the districts financial management practices from July 1, 2011 through March 15, 2014, and includes nine recommendations. They are all recommendations. The board will look into all of them, and will make changes where we need to make changes, said regulating district Executive Director Michael Clark. He called some of the recommendations benign. Although the audit found the districts Great Sacandaga Lake permit issuance, billing and collection practices were acceptable, auditors noted the organization has kept the permit fees the same since 2000. As of December 2013, permit fees for access to the state-owned, manmade reservoir totaled in $379,564. We believe the district should review permit fees on a regular basis. By not doing so it may not be maximizing revenue from them, the audit states. According to the report, the district has had a significant backlog of capital projects because of funding limitations, including one project that had been mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2007 for public safety reasons. The audit states that in April, the district informed FERC that the project will be completed once funding is available. While the district expected a bond issuance by early spring 2014, it still had not happened as of June 2014, the audit states. The report also touched on the districts timekeeping policy, noting employees did not record actual start and end times of days worked. Additionally, auditors said employees submit leave requests via e-mail. Auditors made recommendations on how to better manage their equipment inventory, which has no formal policy. In response to the audit, regulating district Board of Directors Chairman Mark Finkle provided a letter to audit director Carmen Maldonado that includes comments acknowledging what the district could improve upon, and possible modifications to some polices. The letter says the board will consider increasing access permit fees if it is warranted. Despite the audits criticism, Clark said the report was an overall positive reflection of the organizations current financial status. Several years ago, the Hudson River end of the agencys operations were in considerable financial straights after a federal court determined the agencys historic practice of taxing hydropower facilities was illegal, effectively cutting a majority of the agencys operating revenue. Since, the regulating district started taxing five Capital District counties for the flood-protection services the agency provides through operations of the Great Sacandaga Lake. The audit found the board to have good financial management practices, which is really the whole point of the thing, and really that was very positive, Clark said. Clark said the board will look into some of the auditors recommendations, such as adopting a formal policy mandating periodic equipment inventories. Finkles letter also includes comments about what the district finds inaccurate about the report and the audits recommendations. It says the auditors findings represent a fundamental misunderstanding of the regulating districts enabling statute, which reportedly makes no provision for consideration of lost revenue when preparing three-year budgets. Specifically, auditors noted one of the Capital District counties shorted their tax payment to the regulating district because it was unable to collect $15,994 from a company contesting ownership of a parcel during the billing period. The district generally doesnt follow up on the status of the counties collection efforts, the audit states. In a reply to Finkle, the comptrollers office wrote that the entity could correct that issue by establishing a reserve account.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 11:55:39 +0000

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