Time to call in the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Finagling of agency budgets, particularly the DC Public Schools, and the District’s financial condition — claims of a pending $400 million deficit for fiscal 2012, which could mushroom, if new revenue projections expected next month are adjusted downward — are sufficient reasons to invite a GAO visit.
Some may think me crazy calling for Congress’s investigative arm to stick its nose in local affairs. But the GAO may be the only entity capable of offering an honest and thorough examination of the city’s finances while evaluating Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi and his team.
“We need fresh eyes to come in and look at these numbers [at DCPS] because, frankly, this doesn’t make sense,” said at-large D.C. Councilman David Catania, noting there has been overspending at schools for many years. He was one of several current and past government officials who agreed a GAO audit is needed.
“Just because you balanced the books doesn’t mean what you did was right,” said a finance expert who previously worked for the city finance office. He said the city shouldn’t have received a “clean opinion” from auditors who are paid each year to review the District’s books, including its systems of fiscal controls.
During the 1990s, when Sharon Pratt (Kelly) was mayor, the city balanced its budget each year. It achieved that by deploying questionable practices and gimmicks — procedures approved by the D.C. Council — according to the GAO. Those tactics and a looming deficit of more than $500 million prompted Congress in 1995 to impose a financial control board while creating an independent inspector general and independent chief financial officer.
But while Gandhi is supposed to be that unimpeachable fiscal sheriff, more often than not he has been missing in action. It’s hard to understand how finance officials didn’t realize until the end of the fiscal year that the DCPS might have an $11.5 million deficit, as I wrote Monday. After all, neither the chancellor nor anyone reporting to her is charged with writing checks. Further, its unconscionable that Gandhi’s team would fail to adequately manage federal grant money, resulting in the possible return of millions of dollars.
If this kind of madness is occurring in DCPS, a closely tracked agency, what is happening in other operations that have not received media and political scrutiny?
“There needs to be a deeper dive audit by the GAO,” said the former D.C. government finance expert.
It has been more than 10 years since Congress created the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. During that period, there have been few expansive examinations of its operation. The council ordered a review after the revelation of a $50 million theft that occurred over multiple years. In 2009, there was an assessment of whether the city could properly manage federal stimulus money.
Gandhi has one year left on his contract. The GAO evaluation should occur while he’s still on the job. After he leaves will be too late.
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
