State officials seem to think everything was on the up and up when they played a shell game with federal Homeland Security funds for Colorado’s new emergency response center.
No one is questioning the value of the center nor its price tag, but a state audit last week did accuse state officials of misusing $5.9 million in federal funds. The money, earmarked for local governments, was used instead to complete a financing package for the center in Centennial. Auditors said the state violated federal laws and guidelines; circumvented state statute and fiscal controls; played footsie with the South Metro Fire District to trade federal dollars for a long-term lease on the building; and tried to disguise the building purchase as a donation.
Department of Local Affairs Director Michael Beasley questions the auditors’ claims and plans to meet with federal officials to iron out the issue. We look forward to hearing the federal verdict, but a quick look around failed to find anyone in Washington who would vouch for the state’s approach.
The audit report identified the U.S. Justice Department comptroller’s office as the agency that deemed the state’s use of the funds inappropriate. Beasley’s office insists state officials had permission to use the federal money as they did and has documents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Domestic Preparedness to back him up. The documents involve a former ODP official now working for Gov. Bill Owens. Another official, Matt Mayer, a former Owens aide, has been acting director of the ODP since February, and his office is currently investigating Colorado’s use of the funds. On Friday, Mayer recused himself from any decision. “If Colorado misallocated funds, they will have to give it back,” Mayer said. “If any waste, fraud or abuse has occurred, it will be referred to the inspector general.”
Perhaps the Owens administration put too much stock in relationships with homeland security officials and with South Metro Fire. We rather admired the ingenuity in financing the center, but there’s no excuse for ignoring federal and state guidelines. The state gave South Metro Fire $5.9 million in federal money without requiring the district to go through appropriate channels and disguised a $1.1 million investment in the building as a “donation” after auditors started asking questions. South Metro, which is buying the building, swapped the money for state space to house the emergency center. “On paper, DOLA granted about $5.9 million to South Metro, however, substantively, DOLA awarded these funds to itself, funneling the grant funds through South Metro to pay for a state building project,” the audit found.
State officials barely had enough money to launch the state preparedness office after Sept. 11 and then had to scramble to complete the financing. They could have avoided any subterfuge by getting permission from the legislature and doing things transparently, as they promised. We think the center was a smart idea at a smart time, but the state will have to settle affairs with Homeland Security if it is to be trusted with future grants.
