Deadline Set for Turnover to Office of Debt Recovery
of more than $4 million Owed to Taxpayers
State Treasurer John Kennedy announced Monday that 36 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have until August 31, 2013 to fulfill their obligations under the law or be turned over to the Office of Debt Recovery for the collection of approximately $4.452 million owed to taxpayers.
“The Legislature and the Governor made it very clear with the passage of House Bill 629 and the establishment of the Office of Debt Recovery that the days of owing the state money and hiding are over,” Kennedy said. “We now have an agency in state government with teeth whose sole mission is to ensure every penny owed to the taxpayers is recovered.”
Treasurer Kennedy announced that the Department of the Treasury will issue final demand letters this week to 36 entities that have failed to comply with the provisions of Executive Order BJ 2008-30, established by Governor Kathleen Blanco and continued by Governor Bobby Jindal, which requires transparency and accountability from NGOs that have received direct taxpayer support in past appropriation bills.
“Over the last several years, our Audit & Compliance Division has repeatedly sent certified letters, sent e-mails and even made personal call attempts to these particular entities demanding the required ‘progress reports’ and the supporting documentation required under the law with little or no response,” Kennedy said. “While most NGOs have worked in good faith with our office and have been in compliance, these 36 organizations have become the most flagrant violators of these important requirements.”
Under the regulations, NGOs receiving taxpayer money directly via HB 1 must provide progress reports and corresponding documentation to the Treasury in order to maintain their appropriations. Examples of the required paperwork include a comprehensive budget, detailed description of the public purpose, and detailed cost information outlining the use of the appropriated funds. Entities failing to comply with the provisions are required to return the full appropriation to the State Treasury.
Should these 36 entities ultimately decide to continue their non-compliance, they will be among the first items on the agenda for the new Office of Debt Recovery. Treasurer Kennedy has long advocated the establishment of such an office and made it a top priority during Governor Jindal’s Streamlining Commission in 2009. Now that HB 629 has made that a reality, state agencies will be required to refer unpaid receivables to a centralized unit for collection.
“I’m hoping all agencies across state government will aggressively utilize this new mechanism to maximize revenues,” Kennedy said. “Every dollar that is brought in by this new process is one less dollar we have to raise in taxes or cut in important priorities, such as funding education or aiding the disabled.”
List of 36 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
Out of Compliance with Executive Order BJ 2008-30
| 12th Ward Save Our Community Organization, Inc. | $520,000 |
| Algiers Enterprise Community Council, Inc. | $25,000 |
| BASIC of Louisiana | $85,000 |
| Booker T. Community Outreach Program | $25,000 |
| Boys & Girls Club of Natchitoches | $75,000 |
| Children of the Village Foundation, Inc. | $10,000 |
| Community Awareness Revitalization & Enhancement Corp. | $130,000 |
| Community Services of Richland, Inc. | $30,000 |
| Daughters of Promise | $25,000 |
| Desire Community Housing Corp. | $100,000 |
| Emmit Spurlock Memorial Foundation | $10,000 |
| Fourth District Missionary Baptist Association of Louisiana, Inc. | $75,000 |
| Gordon Plaza Elderly & Handicapped Apartments, Inc. | $30,000 |
| Just Willing Foundation | $75,000 |
| Kids Coupes, Inc. | $140,000 |
| Lady Flame, Inc. | $2,000 |
| Life Economic Development Corporation | $100,000 |
| Lower Ninth Ward Neighborhood Council, Inc. | $15,000 |
| Martin L. King Jr. Neighborhood Association in Shreveport | $100,000 |
| McKinley High School Alumni Association | $125,000 |
| Muttshack Animal Rescue Foundation, Inc. | $15,000 |
| National Empowerment Coalition, Inc. | $150,000 |
| Neighbors for a Better Baker | $10,000 |
| Novice House, Inc. | $50,000 |
| Purple Circle Social Club | $50,000 |
| Rapides Primary Health Care Center, Inc. | $550,000 |
| Serenity 67 | $150,000 |
| Southside Economic Development District, Inc. | $50,000 |
| Succor, Inc. | $550,000 |
| Tab-N-Action (Boy Scouts of Ouachita Parish) | $30,000 |
| The Colomb Foundation, Inc. | $300,000 |
| The Olive Branch Ministries | $20,000 |
| Treme Community Education Program, Inc. | $325,000 |
| Twelfth Ward Save Our Community | $100,000 |
| Wilbert Tross, Sr. Community Development & Counseling Center | $350,000 |
| Young Emerging Leaders of LA | $55,000 |
Free Money and these Bozos can’t throw together a simple budget and Statement of Cash Flow? Sounds like someone has something to hide. I wonder how much these organizations had to kick back in Jindal Campaign contributions to avoid having Bubby line-item veto their appropriation?
I wish the new rules were such that if the organization receiving the funds didn’t comply fully with all reporting requirements, the responsible Senator or Representative would lose his/her authority to recommend all such funding for the entirety of their remaining term. That or take a flogging by a cat-o-nine tails.
I vote for the floggings. When can they start?
Amen, sooner better than later!!!
Good work, Treasurer Kennedy.
Thank you for your excellent work, Mr. Aswell.
$4.452 million ?
Isn’t that about the amount the lege wanted to add for the disabled kids at home, that lil Bobby vetoed?
I think you are correct on how much Jindal vetoed, this would have a left a surplus if about $1/2 million.
Thank you again Mr. Aswell for shedding light on yet another waste of our dollars.
Thank Mr. Kennedy for doing his job and not being afraid to expose Jindal for what he isn’t!!!!!!!
This is quite disappointing. With the budget as tight as it is, with taxpayer discontent so high, that these NGOs would take money then flagrantly disregard reporting requirements is inexcusable. They are giving the funding of charitable causes a bad name, and it makes me angry.
My brief efforts to google some of these organizations is producing scary results. Seems it’s not just failure to report, but maybe some of these never even really got off the ground to begin with. And the money went where? Not sure it’s just a collection problem. Might be some scams here. I hope this is pursued, because genuine altruism has a bad enough black eye these days. We don’t need this. We apparently DO need a more stringent vetting process on the front end. I bet the collection rate on the organizations that remain noncompliant will be very low. Further, any reporting compliance probably should be verified.
As lacking in accountability as our state government is, if Mr Kennedy had not reported this, our legislature probably had no clue they were owed money. They have no accountability for the voucher schools that matters so these NGOs have probably followed Jindal’s example.
I wish, as FREDSTR pointed out, this would cover the amount vetoed for the home care for disabled citizens!!
I assure you the legislators know this money is owed. They approved these grants and are more concerned with protecting their own from scrutiny than they are with non-compliance by the cash cows they create. Hats off to John Kennedy who repeatedly points out flaws in our state’s performance but unfortunately usually the leges do nothing to correct them because it involves accountability by the very ones they strive to protect.
He’s not about disabled children, but about prayer in schools, big corporate welfare takers, and big money makers, who contribute to his national campaign. He’s about national recognition, and he will do anything for that recognition.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/06/bobby_jindal_signs_school_pray.html
Yet he won’t comment on sodomy law:
http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/07/bobby-jindal-stays-silent-louisiana-sodomy-arrests
Maybe Jindal rationalizes that if he signs a law that permits prayer in schools, Christian children will pray away the ill effects of homosexuality!
News flash Governor;
Your silence on sodomy laws are not synonymous on your prayer in schools:
Hypocrite much?????
And Adam Knapp was just on the Engster Show this morning talking about the demise of LA Swift today because the state couldn’t come up with $750K to keep it (a very useful, and the only commuter transportation line between New Orleans and Baton Rouge). I guess all these programs are more important than helping people travel to and from work, medical appointments, etc. Not that there shouldn’t be another way to fund it, but clearly the state has many more crying needs than these NGOs which are designed to simply buy the votes of the legislators who control them.
Hope this is the whole list. Wouldn’t want him to be spun in to a spider web a la the IRS scandal for picking on certain groups and having it labeled discriminatory application. Kudos for going after the money for the citizens of LA.
Well, I guess that would be the next profiling on the hit card, trying to collect from party line politics, green profiling. Cross all boundaries. I am also sure, some of these organizations were never formed, proper paper work completed, only enough to be signed by those legislatures for the final signature of the administration, in exchange for their political payment checks; taken from those taxpayers of LA. Never recovered. Isn’t that fraud? The saga continues for lost money due LA treasury.