What does it take to get a rigorous audit and effective change in this town?

A couple of years ago, it came to light through admirable citizen activism and solid newspaper reporting that the Philadelphia Parking Authority was doing a horrendous job of paying into the city's general fund, paying the Philadelphia School District, and managing costs. Indeed, the only tasks at which the PPA excelled were ticketing your cars and grossly overpaying its managers.

Executive Director Vince Fenerty makes $183,000 annually, more than Gov. Rendell or Mayor Nutter.

In November 2007, the governor asked for a comprehensive "fiscal and performance audit" of the agency, which directs $25 million in annual profits to the city and any surplus funds to the schools. "Accounts of skyrocketing expenses, bloated payrolls, excessive salaries, and parking-garage mismanagement suggest that the internal fiscal and management controls" were not in place, he wrote.

This week, 20 months and $122,000 later, a near-final draft of the report appears that is neither comprehensive nor prescriptive.

"Our procedures did not constitute an audit, review, or compilation of the information provided and, accordingly, we do not express an opinion or provide any other form of assurance on the completeness or accuracy of the information," the 37-page report states.

In other words, it is weak tea.

"It's extremely disappointing, and a disservice to Philadelphia," says Helen Gym of Citizens United for Public Education. "In this time of fiscal crisis, the Parking Authority is rolling in money, in people's money, that is owed to the city and the children of the school district."

The report barely addresses overpayment of the top-heavy management at the PPA, which has 1,018 employees and $201 million in annual revenues. It states that salaries are "within a competitive range" - only because they're compared with top wages at the School District, which has a $3.2 billon budget and 25,000 employees, instead of those of other parking authorities.

Controller Alan Butkovitz defends the report. "I think it has substantial negative findings, the high ratio of supervisors to people, inability to produce a list of contracts," he says, though he faults the state auditor general for not providing $80,000 in requested funding to create an audit. The report took so long, he says, because "it was like pulling teeth" getting information from the PPA. "They were filibustering this thing to death."

Despite the report's tepid nature, the Parking Authority is challenging the conclusions. "This is just a draft and we will be responding to it," says spokeswoman Linda Miller.

Republican Al Schmidt, a former federal auditor running against Butkovitz in the November election, says, "What's really troubling is, we can't say the Parking Authority is inefficient if it isn't an audit. The city controller has extraordinary power. When you're conducting an audit, you don't have to ask, 'Mother, may I?' I didn't learn anything I didn't know last year."

The tragedy is that the PPA isn't just another bloated, patronage-filled government agency awash in incompetency. It's a cash-rich, bloated, patronage-filled government agency awash in incompetency that could be pumping badly needed funds into the city and schools.

"In this time of fiscal crisis, when they're talking about laying off police officers, firefighters and closing libraries, we've got an agency that's collecting cash faster than you can possibly imagine, and it's not going to the places it's supposed to fund," Gym says. "Who do we need to look at it? Are we going to leave it up to people with titles and say, 'Hey, they're going to take care of it?' Why do you think things stay the way they are?"

Excellent questions all.

Here's one more: If an office mandated with oversight states that it's like pulling teeth to get information from the PPA, who precisely will ensure that the agency is better managed to increase funding for Philadelphia's citizens and students?

Contact columnist Karen Heller at 215-854-2586 or kheller@phillynews.com.