Sixth District Councilman Steve Stenger, D-Affton, is outraged St. Louis County ended fiscal 2011 with a $2.4 million operating surplus after County Executive Charlie Dooley contended the county faced a financial crisis during 2011 and 2012.

“I think that elected officials are taxed with the responsibility of being honest to the taxpayers, and here we had a situation where the county was claiming a crisis, the county executive was claiming a crisis, claiming that we were going to have a $26 million deficit …,” Stenger said. “It turns out he was $28 million wrong. We had a $2 million surplus.”

Dooley last November projected a budget deficit of $26 million for 2012, the same amount he had projected for fiscal 2011, according to Stenger.

Stenger told the Call he reviewed the fiscal situation last year and the county was “never going to be at risk for anything near a $26 million deficit.”

The fiscal 2011 surplus is good for the county, he said, noting in fiscal 2010, operating revenues totaled roughly $319 million and the county ended fiscal 2010 with a $3.3 million surplus.

“A $2 million surplus is a very, very, very positive thing,” he said, “and it shows that, more than anything, we were never in risk of a crisis last year … We’re not in a crisis this year. There is no need for a tax increase.”

Last August, Dooley proposed rolling up the county’s property tax rate by 2.3 cents.

But the county executive withdrew that proposal in early September in the wake of criticism, particularly from Stenger, an attorney and a certified public accountant, who disputed Dooley’s comments to local media that the county would face a “crisis” and have to lay off employees if the tax rate were not increased.

Dooley spokesman Mac Scott told the Call the county’s fiscal 2011 surplus is not a large amount.

“A $2 million surplus at the end of the year is a pretty small amount when you consider a $500 million budget,” he said.

Additionally, the county’s year-end budget review shows the Parks and Recreation Department continued spending at fiscal 2010 levels — $22.5 million — during fiscal 2011. The continued spending occurred while the Dooley administration said the county was in a financial crunch and laid off 20 full-time employees and four part-time employees in the parks department.

Parks department audit

Vehicle expenditures for the Parks and Recreation Department during fiscal 2011 totaled $646,407.29, an internal audit found. The total includes specialized vehicles, such as lift trucks, but the audit contended “the rate of replacement, the type of replacement vehicles purchased and the number of vehicles per employee bears some attention.”

The department purchased three 2011 Ford Rangers at $15,542 and four 2012 Ford F350 Dump Trucks for $36,783, among other vehicles, in fiscal 2011.

County Auditor David Makarewicz told the Call the biggest concern with the vehicle purchases was the dates of purchase coincide with public statements of a “budget crunch.”

Stenger said his reaction to the parks department purchasing new equipment during that time was outrage.

“I felt misled, and I felt that, more importantly, the taxpayers were being misled,” he said, “and I still do, which is why I was so vocal about trying to get the truth out.”

The department now has one extra ranger vehicle, according to Makarewicz.

“(There was) no adjustment to their purchasing practices in light of the public statements that were being made by the administration,” he said.

However, acting Parks and Recreation Department Director Tom Ott told the Call the vehicles were ordered by the end of May 2011 and the department was “not told about (its) budget cuts until September of 2011.”

“Our mission did not change. None of the county parks closed,” Ott said. “Everything that we still had to do previously, we’re still doing … with some fewer staff, but the mission hasn’t changed.”

Many of the vehicles that were replaced had holes in the floorboards, truck beds that were “completely rotted out” and most were more than 12 years old, according to Scott.

“You don’t grind county government to a halt because money is tight,” he said. “You have to spend your money wisely and do it carefully, and you have to replace equipment that is failing.”

Many park vehicles are pickup trucks and one-ton dump trucks used for “everyday park maintenance,” which Ott said includes hauling rock, sand and dirt. He also said they may pull trailers or other machinery.

Audit findings

The audit also found two duplicated entries in the 2012 Capital Project Listing totaling $345,000 in overstatements.

A roof repair for the Greensfelder Recreation Complex in Queeny Park was listed twice, “for different amounts in two different years,” overstating “future capital needs by $300,000 in 2015,” the audit stated.

But Scott told the Call the Greensfelder roof project was not listed twice.

“There were two different reports and when it got listed in a different place in a report it was caught immediately,” he said. “The money wasn’t spent twice. It was just accounted for twice. They saw the error and corrected it.”

A planned project for recreational equipment at the North County Recreation Center also was incorrectly reported, adding $45,000 to capital projects, the audit stated. The exercise equipment originally was budgeted at $90,000, according to Makarewicz, but was cut to $45,000 during budget negotiations.

“When (the cost was) cut to $45,000, they listed an additional $45,000 in the next year, which they never planned on spending … That second entry is an error,” he said. “And there too, I don’t set policy, but this was going on at the same time they were laying off park employees …”

The audit also revealed roughly $130,000 earmarked for capital improvements, which have not been spent since 1977, were drawing a “very low interest rate” of 0.2 percent, according to Makarewicz.

“… I really can’t comment on what I think their motivation was, but there was a lack of adjustment to the budget situation,” he said.

County officials knew those funds were available, according to Scott, but had not decided how to use them.

“Everybody knew it was there. It was a matter of finding the appropriate capital project,” he said. “It could not be used to hire new park rangers or keep people employed in the parks department …”

Ott said the funds will be used to re-pave one large lot at Sailboat Cove in Creve Coeur Park.