Mon
Feb 25 2008
05:48 pm
Knox Co. Mayor's office: HUD findings released
By: R. Neal

$840K cleared. More after the jump...

From the press release:
$840,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds that was previously questioned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been cleared by that agency. In a February 22nd letter to the Knox County Mayor, HUD Field Office Director Mark Brezina advised that the “…$840,000 is no longer questioned.” In addition, Brezina advised that HUD has also cleared the disallowed costs for Family Securities, Inc. by providing documentation that verified payment of $50,000 of County funds to Volunteer Ministry Center (VMC) “as a similar public service activity in lieu of repaying the $33,454.04 to the CDBG line of credit…” HUD went on to applaud the County’s efforts to attain technical assistance from Douglas Cherokee, one of HUD’s technical assistance providers, to develop the county’s process and operations manual that will address conflict of interest compliance.

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mbradley's picture

This continues to "buffoon"

Submitted by mbradley on Mon, 2008/02/25 - 6:15pm.

This continues to "buffoon" me.

Did Family Securities get the $33k or not? If so, and given that you can't spend the same dollar twice, didn't this accounting entry cost the county (i.e. you and me)somewhere between $33k and $50k?

I'm just not buying the whole "do over" thing. Well, actually, I guess I am...

R. Neal's picture

The way I read it was that

Submitted by R. Neal on Mon, 2008/02/25 - 6:35pm.

The way I read it was that in lieu of paying back the $33K the county coughed up the $50K out of their own coffers instead of using HUD money they could/would have received.

Tamara Shepherd's picture

Six of one...

Submitted by Tamara Shepherd on Mon, 2008/02/25 - 9:47pm.

But that $50K (or whatever amount) would have been spent by the county anyway, on the Volunteer Ministry project, isn't that right?

So rather than spend Fed $ on Fam-Sec and county $ on Volunteer Ministry, the department just transposed those two amounts, no new $ involved, didn't they?

That's what I understood...

Texas Pete's picture

Typical Ragsdale Bookkeeping

Submitted by Texas Pete (not verified) on Mon, 2008/02/25 - 10:44pm.

This is the way Ragsdale has kept our financial house running since he was put in office. In my opinion, the looseness of how you keep track of other people's money, particularly taxpayer money, will eventually catch up with him. We ought to hear from the State Comptroller before Easter, such that we can really see if Ragsdale can rise from the dead.

Tamara Shepherd's picture

Bookkeeping not the problem

Submitted by Tamara Shepherd on Mon, 2008/02/25 - 10:53pm.

The bookkeeping isn't the problem here--inadequate monitoring of a grantee appears to have been.

Had Fam-Sec misspent $33K *AND* the county been obligated to repay HUD that amount, the county would have been out $66K.

The bookkeeping transfer thus "saved" the county half that amount, leaving it "just" $33K poorer.

Factchecker's picture

All clear, huh?

Submitted by Factchecker on Mon, 2008/02/25 - 11:15pm.

Does this mean Ms. Finch is coming back? She was wronged, right?

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