Audit: Atchafalaya course continues to lose money

St. Mary Parish’s 2010 Fiscal Year audit results show losses at the parish-owned golf course and problems in failing to amend budgets throughout the year to recognize anticipated shortfalls or surpluses in funds.

Guy Pitts of the accounting firm Pitts & Matte released the information as part of the fiscal year report at St. Mary’s regularly scheduled parish council meeting.

Pitts said the parish-owned Atchafalaya Golf Course at Idlewild lost $380,000 in 2010, as compared to $240,000 in 2009.

The 7,533-yard public course, which cost parish taxpayers $4.5 million to build, opened in 2005.

Since its open, an Acadian-style cottage clubhouse was added in 2007 as well as a pavilion and bathroom on the fifth hole.

Both renovations came at an additional cost to the parish.

Pitts suggested the larger loss in 2010 was due to the BP oil spill, which he said thwarted tourists from enjoying themselves in the area.

The golf course’s struggles weren’t the only cause of concern in Pitts’ report, he said the council did not properly adjust its books throughout 2010.

He said proper maintenance would have allowed the administration to determine proper over and under revenue stream balances.

While explaining the problem, Pitts said that although the parish balances its books at the end of the year, which is another state requirement, “adjustments are not made in the interim period.”

He added when significant differences exist between payables and receivables from year to year, “the amount of funds that appear to be available or costs that appear to have been incurred can be distorted.

“Failure to recognize the effect of these differences can lead to variances between budgeted and actual activity,” he said. “Failure to amend budgets to recognize anticipated shortfalls or surpluses in funds prevents the governmental body from effectively curtailing or expanding projects and or services, in accordance with actual available resources.”

Pitts said his recommendation is that the council, “should fine tune its ongoing budget monitoring program to periodically consider accruals for major revenues and expenditures.”

He added that according to the budget ordinance, the parish administration needs to notify the council within 30 days of an actual account fluctuation when a budget is 5 percent up or down in expenditures.

He said notification was not made and the following budgets were not amended in many instances, even detailing specific situations he’d seen throughout the year.

In one occurrence, the following actual revenues exceeded their budgeted revenues by 5 percent or more: the DWI Court Patient Fee Fund was budgeted for $910 but collected revenues for $5,652; the Marcel Boat Landing Fund was budgeted for $8,100 but collected $9,386; the Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 10 Sales’ Tax Fund was budgeted for $331,400 but the revenues collected were $361,570; and the DWI Court was budgeted for $134,060, but revenues collected were $141,571.

In other funds, Pitts found that actual revenues were more than 5 percent below budgeted revenues: the Road Construction and Maintenance Fund, $3.35 million collected vs. $3.65 million budgeted; the Housing Program, $388,295 collected, vs. $428,000 budgeted; and the Job Readiness Program, $102,240 collected versus $141,000 budgeted.

Pitts said in the following funds, actual expenditures were less than budgeted expenditures by 5 percent or more: Wards 1,2,3,4,7 and 10 Sales Tax Fund, $475,260 collected vs. $526,328 budgeted; the Job Readiness Fund $94,458 collected vs. $103,696 budgeted, and the Quintana Boat Landing Fund, $163,832 was collected versus $174,788 budgeted.

Aside from the council’s spending successes and failures, Pitts said during the course of the audit, he noted certain funds had deficit fund balances at the end of 2010.

“State statue prohibits expending amounts in excess of fund balance, revenues and other financing sources,” he said.

He said the following individual funds were in violation because of these deficit balances: the Capital Improvement Fund, $690,681; the Road Construction and Maintenance Fund, $275,156; the Jail Operating and Maintenance Fund, $84,177; the DWI Court, $19,005, and the Jesse Fontenot Memorial Boat Landing Fund, $697.

The St. Mary Parish Council, along with other parish governmental bodies across the state, is required by law to hire an independent auditor to perform an annual audit on all of its books.

All audits, both in St. Mary Parish and statewide, are then submitted to the Louisiana State Legislative Auditor, Daryl Purpera.

In response to the audit, St. Mary Parish’s Director of Finance Paul Governale sent a letter to Purpera, which said that, “Although there have been some improvements in budget monitoring, the timing of presentation and adoption by the council of the amended budget ordinance continue to make year-end estimates difficult to predict.”

Also, Governale said budget variances will continue to be monitored on a monthly basis.

Budget adjustments will be recommended to the council when variances exceed the percentages as specified in the budget ordinance.

He said the deficits would be funded either by future revenues or transfers from the general fund. The deficit in the DWI Court Fund will be funded either by future revenues or transfers from the DWI Patient Fee Fund, and the deficit in the Jesse Fontenot Memorial Boat Landing Fund will be funded by future revenues.