Oh those Wacky Sailors! Seriously, though, the Marina Yacht Harbor Can't Handle Money
By Benjamin Wachs
From a budgeting perspective, the Marina Yacht Harbor is just a drop in the ocean. San Francisco has a $6 billion budget, while the Marina Yacht Harbor has under $2.5 million.
But as a new report from the City Budget Analyst shows, incompetence and/or corruption come in all shapes and sizes. It’s not how big your budget is that counts, it’s how you use it.
SF Government InAction already covered my favorite part of the Budget Analyst’s report – that the Harbor has such a poor system for taking in cash, issuing receipts, and safeguarding the money that it’s impossible to know if everything’s accounted for.
Even adding a cash register, the report said, would help improve accountability (no, they still don’t have one. If only such technology was widely available!)
But there are other goodies in there too that are as yet unreported on. Here’s the highlights:
• Money walks: In at least six instances payments to the harbor mysteriously end up in the Recreation and Parks General fund.
• Permit files are “incomplete": At least $7,444 was credited to the harbor fund without any accompanying documentation
• Invisible gardeners: The harbor has 2 “gardener” positions that are untrackable. The employees only report the total number of hours they say they worked … numbers which have no accompanying information or proof.
• Inventory? What inventory?: The Yacht Harbor “lacks procedures to manage inventory and consequently cannot ensure that materials and supplies are not lost or stolen.” Likewise, surpluses tend to build up because no one’s cross-checking what they’ve already got. Surplus lumber purchased in 2005 – 2006 is still waiting to be used.
• Democracy? What Democracy?: The Rec and Park Department likes to take money the Board of Supervisors says should go to harbor facilities maintenance and stick it into capital funds instead. In fact, over the last 6 years, a majority of the funds allocated for habor maintenance ($2.1 million) have ended up in the capital fund ($1.3 million). Oh I wish that were a game we could all play! I’d totally use the money the Supes meant to repair the roads on lottery tickets. I’ve got a system.
• Needless to say the Rec and Parks department doesn’t return surplus funds to the Supes. That would be crazy. Also, required by law.
• Bi-oriented budgets: “The Department practices result in both understatement and overstatement of the marina yacht harbor’s annual facilities maintenance budget in a fiscal year.” I don’t even know how they do that … but, then, I’m from the Midwest. We’re not nearly as sophisticated out there, and your crazy “Kinsey scale” budgeting scares us.
Mmmm...that’s good scandal. Or at least it would be if anybody were paying attention. But a small mismanaged department in San Francisco is a lot like a topless girl at Bay to Breakers. After all these years, nobody's impressed anymore.
But there is good news: in his written response to the audit, the harbor's general manager agreed: they should get a cash register.
Score one for the good guys!
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Why have I not seen this story in the SFGate? With our Budget crisis, any and all issues of this sort need to be on the front page.
Posted On: Friday, May. 23 2008 @ 3:27PM
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