Loading ...…nothing? State auditors have completed their examination of the non-profits that were brought into question by The Birmingham News. And what did they find?
State examiners have found that two nonprofit organizations that went unaudited for three years after being created by state legislators have not spent most of the $800,000 they have received in Alabama tax revenue.
Auditors said the nearly $140,000 that has been spent has gone for schools, volunteer fire departments and economic development.
The examiners’ reports on the Marion County Community Development Association and the West Alabama Development Association of Fayette County did not find any questionable expenditures or any charges for management costs.
I have consistently called for greater transparency in state government and the secrecy that these groups were formed under is wrong. The fact that they had not been audited before now is wrong too and I applaud the News for exposing it. However, I am pleased that the results of the audit show there was not additional nefarious behaviour going on in this particular instance.
The results of the audits do allow us to discuss a different question, which some raised at the time of the first reports. Most state agencies have to give back any unspent dollars at the end of the fiscal year in which it was designated. The way in which these funds were awarded does not have the same stipulation. Shouldn’t the unspent money come back to the state treasury?
Of course, as often happens in Alabama politics, one side over-reached by suggesting more might be going on than the evidence supported. And now that the worst accusations have proven not to be true, the lesser offenses that need to be fixed will be dropped, which is unfortunate for all Alabamians. I wish one side or the other would learn that when you over-play your hand that you end up with nothing.
Links to the full examiner reports on the two non-profits can be found here and here.
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