Following a less-than-perfect state audit, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy will receive stricter oversight on its fiscal habits from the Legislature and the state Department of Finance.
By Mark Bassett/Special to The Malibu Times
A recent state Department of Finance audit cited questionable administrative practices and expenditures in the mismanagement of $7 million of state parks bond money by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. The audit also found that the SMMC approved grants that could be deemed inconsistent with the intent of the bond acts. In response to the audit, bond money for the SMMC’s upcoming fiscal year was missing from Gov. Schwarzenegger’s April finance letter that outlined his proposal for the 2004-05 fiscal year budget. To ensure that $22.1 in bond funds were in the budget, the state Attorney General’s Office added more checks and balances on the spending habits of the SMMC. And while the budget could be approved in the coming weeks by the legislature, Gov. Schwarzenegger still has the power to veto it.
The state audit found that the SMMC was charging 9 percent in administrative overhead, or more than $1.5 million for 29 land purchases. This is 350 times the overhead assessed by six other state agencies, including the Department of Water Resources, the Coastal Conservancy, and the Department of Fish and Game. Audit results also found that the SMMC used $4.2 million in bond money for planning, education and renovation of facilities, rather than parkland purchases.
“In our opinion, they’re not spending funds in line with the bond measures,” Samuel E. Hull, chief of the Office of State Audits and Evaluations, told the The Los Angeles Times in a June 6 article.
Since its inception in 1980, the conservancy has researched, accessed and eventually secured more than 55,000 acres of open space in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. The SMMC has expanded the Santa
Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to 154,000 acres, including the acquisition of the Ahmanson Ranch property in Calabasas.
To see that the bond money be put in the budget, the Attorney
General’s Office granted the Department of Finance and the Legislature oversight in the SMMC’s use of bond funds. The SMMC is also being required to make grants to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority from bond funds with the consent of the Attorney General’s Office. Also, the conservancy must provide annual reports to the chairs of the fiscal committees and appropriate subcommittees of the state Senate and Assembly.
When asked about the impact of the audit, SMMC Executive Director Joe Edmiston said, “The question is who makes the decision [to acquire property], does our board make that decision or is the decision made in Sacramento. And the Legislature has resolved this.”
Edmiston said the SMMC’s lawyers found the conservancy’s practices to be in line with its edicts. He said the results of the audit came down to a misinterpretation for authorization of grant allowances.
“You can buy a sign that says this is poison oak, but you can’t have a real person on the trail explaining to kids the difference between poison oak and a sycamore tree,” Edmiston said.
Calabasas Councilmember Lesley Devine, who is on the SMMC Advisory Board, said what some are calling “excessive overhead” is caused by the costs involved in acquisitions, such as paying for Environmental Impact Reports. She said these costs are absorbed by the conservancy until the money is recouped after the deal is secured.
“We would be singing ‘They Paved over Paradise’ if it weren’t for the SMMC and Joe Edmiston,’ Devine said. “Not to be partisan, but, every time there’s been a new Republican governor, the State Department of Finance is all over the SMMC. Then they find that every penny has been accounted for in detail.”