PINE BLUFF - A review by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has revealed that Pine Bluff must reimburse $199,907 in community development block grant and HOME program funds that have been “improperly spent” by the city’s Economic and Community Development Department.
In addition, the city could also have to reimburse the federal government an additional $279,000 if proper documentation isn’t provided to account for the money, according to the review.
The document, first reported by the Pine Bluff Commercial on Thursday, is made up of HUD’s annual monitoring review for 2012 and includes findings from a 2010 review, in addition to a recent assessment conducted in April.
Pine Bluff Mayor Debe Hollingsworth, who took office Jan. 1, requested the review in the spring. She is asking for reviews of various entities and programs across city government.
Pine Bluff received more than $539,000 in community development block grants in 2012 and more than $233,000 in HOME funds, according to HUD officials.
HOME is the largest federal block grant to state and local governments designedto create affordable housing for low-income households. Community development block grants are designed to help communities improve quality of life in urban areas.
The money Pine Bluff owes can be paid back in two ways, according to the HUD monitoring report.
The city can cut a check to HUD from a pot of nonfederal dollars or it can opt to have its 2013 community development block grant funds reduced by the amount owed.
The most costly of the report’s findings requires the city to repay more than $121,000 because of inadequate tracking and categorizing of the Economic and Community Development Department’s administrative expenditures.
The review said that the city spent more than 20 percent of its Community Development Block Grant allocations on administrative costs in the Economic and Community Development Department.
Federal law requires “the expenditure of not more than20 percent of [the city’s] grant allocation and program income each year for administrative costs,” according to the review.
The city must also reimburse more than $50,000 it misspent to re-roof a building at 1101 Main St.
Hollingsworth said a previous administration bought the building with Community Development Block Grant funds for the Police Department to use for evidence storage, “but I put the brakes on that. These funds cannot be used for city government purposes.”
Hollingsworth said the building is being sold, and proceeds from the sale will be used to repay the $50,000.
Additionally, the city must repay more than $28,700 in administrative costs that were used to support operations at the Economic and Community Development Department’s headquarters on Georgia Street, the review said.
“The city posted these expenditures as public service expenditures,” but “the city did not establish or maintain records sufficient to support” them, according to the review.
Patricia Campbell, a Freedom of Information Act liaisonfor HUD, said that monitoring reviews “may look very alarming, and certainly these findings are important and serious and need to be addressed. But the city does have 30 days to respond and to clear the findings” related to the $279,000.
Campbell said the goal of monitoring reports is “not to punish a community but to clear the findings so we can work together to correct deficiencies for the benefit of the population.”
Hollingsworth said Larry Matthews, interim director of the city’s Economic and Community Development Department, has been placed in charge of finding the supporting documentation for the $279,000.
Matthews handed out copies of the HUD monitoring review Thursday at a meeting of the city’s three-member Community Development Committee. Two aldermen - Thelma Walker and Glen Brown - attended. Alderman Charles Boyd was absent.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Pine Bluff Commercial were not notified of Thursday’s meeting. Arkansas Code Annotated 25-19-106(b) (1) states: “The time and place of each regular meeting shall be furnished to anyone who requests the information.” On Jan. 1, the Democrat-Gazette submitted its annual request to be notified of all regular and special meetings of the City Council and all city boards and commissions.
Walker said that she “understood that members of the media were told of the meeting.”
She said the meeting was called to discuss community development block grant business and not specifically to discuss the monitoring review.
The mayor said Friday afternoon that her office will provide a tape of the meeting to the media on Monday and that she is “still trying to figure out why [media members] weren’t told of the meeting.”
As for HUD’s monitoring review, Hollingsworth said it’s “premature to address if anyone would be held personally accountable” for the misspent funds, though “I am sure if we find that there are not appropriate documents to back up the spending, then some serious questions will be raised.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 06/22/2013