Pubdate: Mon, 06 Oct 2003 Source: Tuscaloosa News, The (AL) Copyright: 2003 The Tuscaloosa News Contact: http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1665 Author: April Wortham CITY PULLS FUNDING FOR DRUG PROGRAM Accountant Questions PRIDE's Finances TUSCALOOSA | The City Council will not give PRIDE of Tuscaloosa, a drug prevention program administered through city schools, its usual $30,000 this year. While some council members said they felt the organization's large reserves didn't warrant the city's help, a letter from PRIDE's accountant raises deeper questions about the organization's finances. In her May 2003 management report to PRIDE's volunteer board of directors, accountant Mary Gail Yeargan said she discovered that no formal set of books exists for the 2001-02 fiscal year. The records that do exist, she said, show errors in banking that were not properly corrected and checks that cleared for different amounts than were posted. "The remaining issue is still the timely depositing of funds and timely payment of bills," the letter states. "It appears that some bit of time went by without proper attention to these important matters during part of the last year." After questions were raised at an Aug. 28 meeting of the city finance committee, Finance Director Mike Wright wrote a letter to PRIDE executive director June Springer asking about the accountant's findings and what steps the organization was taking to correct the matter. Also in the letter, Wright questioned the $109,734 in unrestricted assets that showed up in the organization's latest audit. PRIDE, which spent $108,308 last year, is largely funded through government grants, including $30,000 it receives annually from the City Council through pass-through money given to Tuscaloosa City Schools. Both Tuscaloosa city and county schools systems donate a portion of their federal at-risk monies to operate Club PRIDE in local schools. The city school system also donates part of its Title IV Drug Free money to PRIDE for printing and supplies costs associated with the DARE program, in addition to office space, a computer and telephone line at its central office on 21st Avenue, said schools Finance Director Pat Conner. Springer said this week that PRIDE decided several years ago to maintain a "safety net" of reserve money that could keep programs operating in the event of lost funding. She said the money given annually by the City Council has always been earmarked for salaries and is not part of that reserve. As for the questions raised by the accountant's management letter, Springer said PRIDE has since hired a professional bookkeeper. "To my knowledge, there was no problem with the actual books, although it wasn't in line with what our accountant would have liked," she said. Councilman Lee Garrison, who chairs the city's finance committee, said the council was not satisfied, either. As part of its budgeting process for the 2003-04 fiscal year that began Wednesday, the council voted unanimously to cut funding for PRIDE. "I think the feeling was, 'Get this in check and come back next year,'" Garrison said. Springer said it is too soon to tell how the loss of the city's funding -- about 30 percent of the organization's total revenues -- will effect PRIDE's programs. "It will certainly impact the amount of staff time we are able to devote to the daily operation of the organization, and I see that as having an eventual trickle-down effect on the services we provide to the school systems and the community," she said. Founded in 1984, PRIDE is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization affiliated with PRIDE USA in Atlanta. It's goal is to prevent drug use through parent training and education, peer leadership, community and school programs, assessments of drug use in schools and communities, a resource center and reference service, youth alternative programs, family intervention, high-risk youth education and the Family and Schools Together sessions. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman