Tracking status of grants to Camden proves difficult

As one of the country's poorest cities, Camden is a constant recipient of million of dollars in grants from state and federal agencies. But keeping track of that money has proved difficult for the city, which has been cited for sloppy bookkeeping for more than a decade and has acknowledged that the situation needs to be fixed.

Camden has a balance of $49 million in available grant money on its books, the most recent audit by Bowman & Co. shows. Some of that money hasn't been spent in part because officials don't even know if it actually exists - the grant money may have expired or the projects may have been completed.

According to an Inquirer analysis of Camden's grants, as listed in the city's certified audits dating to 2007, the city has:

More than $5 million in expired grant money on its books. It is unclear whether the city will lose the funds or whether the balance is a bookkeeping error.

At least $3 million in grant balances for projects that The Inquirer has confirmed have been completed.

Taken off $8 million in grants from its books for fiscal 2012 that the city claims was money already spent, including a $2.1 million balance in the city's summer food program.

For years, the city's audits by Bowman have pointed at Camden's "aged unexpended" grants as an issue. These are grants that have been on the books for more than five years. Each year, the city has said it will address the bookkeeping problems but has failed to resolve them by the following year's audit.

"We're working on it," said the city's finance director, Glynn Jones. "We're fixing 30 years worth of problems."

In 2011, the city's books showed $17.4 million in "aged grants with limited or no apparent activity." By 2012, that amount had been cut to $4.7 million.

Much of that reduction was achieved by canceling grants that had already been spent on designated projects, Jones said.

No one is alleging any financial wrongdoing by the city or auditors. But some critics say disorganized grants management continues without any repercussions from the state, which has had a watch on Camden's finances for years.

Camden's 2012 budget - the year the last audit was conducted - was $167 million, of which the state provided $108 million in aid and only $24 million came from property taxes. In addition, state grants flow in throughout the year. In 2012, there was about $10 million in state grants.

"The state throws $60 million each year [in transitional aid], no questions asked," said former City Controller Richard Cinaglia, who has been critical of grants management in the city.

Through a spokeswoman, state Community Affairs Commissioner Richard E. Constable III declined to comment. DCA has financial oversight of Camden.

Though the current city administration says it is clearing the aged grants, the city continues to accumulate new grants, continuing the cycle.

The city had access to about $12 million in federal and state grants dedicated for police use during its 2011 layoff crisis, but used only about half. As for the general remaining grant money, Jones said: "We're making a concerted effort to spend grant money." But part of the problem is determining whether the money still exists.

Many of the grants listed as aged with large balances in Camden's books were allocated by the state Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) and the U.S. Department of Transportation, and are disbursed through the state Department of Transportation. But records at both agencies reflected finished projects and spent grant money.

One grant that is recorded on the city books as being available is a $250,000 UEZ grant for Market Fair, a senior apartment building project downtown. The grant was used and closed out in 2008, according to UEZ files.

A $2.5 million transportation grant from 2003 set aside to repave roads in Camden also shows a balance of $819,005 in the city's books. But the state Department of Transportation's system has the grant listed as project completed and grant "closed out," spokesman Joseph Dee said.

Another project to mill and resurface Empire Avenue was awarded in 2008 and completed and closed out in 2011 for $436,630. Yet the city's books show a $245,116 balance on that grant.

Cinaglia questions how the city could have spent the grant money if it were not recorded as being used.

"Where did they spend this money from?" Cinaglia asked, explaining that the way the city's system works, any check written is automatically recorded. "It has to be charged somewhere; it's not cash."

Cinaglia, who was with the city for many years and retired in 2008 as an assistant business administrator, a position the state demoted him to during the takeover, said the city has not properly managed grants for many years.

Jones blames prior bookkeeping errors on previous administrations and points to the city's receiving an "unqualified" audit assessment by Bowman, meaning no major issues were found, for the last two fiscal years as proof that the city is improving its finances and cleaning up its books.

Bowman, which has been auditing the city's books for at least 15 years, will again conduct Camden's 2013 audit. It will be paid $186,000 for the contact.

Calls to Bowman auditor Jarred Corn, who signed off on Camden's most recent audit, were not returned.

Bowman will soon start going over the city's 2013 books and again analyze the more than 200 grants.

"I'd like it to be zero," Jones said of the balance left in aged grants.

In a 2012 audit finding, $4.7 million in unexpended aged grant money remained. When asked how much of that is real money and how much is bookkeeping errors, Jones couldn't answer.

"We're trying to determine that," Jones said.

Urban governmental agencies tend to have similar bookkeeping issues, said June Toth, a municipal auditor in North Jersey who has performed various audits for urban housing authorities.

"Part of it is catch-up, part of it is bureaucracy," Toth said about why it might take so long to correct Camden's books.

"Based on the audit, it seems like their books are a mess," Toth said.