A dedicated property tax Baton Rouge voters approved last year will help improve the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging’s financial position, alleviating concerns about a budget deficit identified in a new audit of the agency’s finances, the COA’s chief executive officer says.
In a news release issued late Tuesday, CEO Tasha Clark-Amar responded to issues raised in an audit released Monday, which says that the COA’s deficit grew last year and that the agency did not properly document some of the meals it delivers to the elderly.
The audit found the agency’s budget deficit grew by roughly 10% from 2015 to 2016.
“The new funding our organization will receive from the recently passed (millage) will allow us to care for more seniors and provide financial stability for the organization to fulfill its mission,” Clark-Amar says in the statement.
The COA also is looking into purchasing an electronic tracking system for its meal delivery program to address issues concerning the improper documentation of meals served to seniors, the release says.
Clark-Amar also acknowledged another finding from the audit: That the COA has been failing to maintain the $5 million insurance policy on its Florida Boulevard headquarters as the city-parish requires. Instead, the COA has carried a $2.5 million policy, which Clark-Amar says is the highest amount available from its current insurer, Arthur J. Gallagher and Co.
The city-parish owns the building and leases it to the COA for use as its headquarters.
The response from the COA is the latest in a long-running and contentious public conversation surrounding the agency. Before last year’s election to vote on the tax to nearly double the COA’s budget, critics alleged the COA committed a host of wrongdoings and potential violations of campaign finance and nonprofit laws.
More broadly, several council members and state lawmakers, mostly Republicans, have alleged mismanagement of funds at the agency and general inefficiency.
Two Metro Council members are now planning to introduce a measure to change the city-parish’s cooperative endeavor agreement with the agency that would give it more authority over the COA board, along with a host of other measures. The COA has also announced new transparency measures for receiving and spending dedicated local tax dollars.
The 2.25-mill dedicated property tax is expected to generate nearly $8 million a year over the next 10 years for the COA. Read a recent Business Report cover story on the COA.
—Sam Karlin
