The cost of the state’s emergency-communications center continues to escalate, according to a report Monday by the Colorado state auditor.
The auditor found that state officials in charge of homeland security are paying $1.1 million to rent the office space at 9195 E. Mineral Ave. in Centennial.
Those payments – about $28,600 per month beginning in May – come on top of $1.5 million in federal homeland-security grants the state recently was forced to pay back. The federal government said the state had inappropriately used money for rent that should have been used to help local governments prepare for emergencies.
Barbara Kirkmeyer, acting executive director of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, rejected the auditor’s finding.
Kirkmeyer said the audit is incorrectly based on a “theory” that the department was trying to buy the office space. Instead, the department, which has an option to purchase, obtained a “perpetual lease” on the space.
Kirkmeyer said federal auditors also are incorrect. She said the department agreed to return the money because the federal government had threatened to withhold millions in future homeland-security funding.
She added that federal officials agreed to give the state an extra $1.5 million to enhance the emergency-response radio system.
In other action, the state auditor said the University of Colorado Foundation has made progress in changing its practices, as a result of a December audit.
State Auditor Sally Symanski said the foundation has altered many policies. It has transferred authority to the university to determine the value of “in-kind” gifts.
In another report, auditors found that 30 percent of the oil and gas producers they audited did not file severance-tax returns.
Auditors found one instance where a company that did not file owed about $100,000.
Denver Post staff writer Chris Frates contributed to this report.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-820-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
