IG URGED END TO GREENWAY CASH
State commits millions despite spending probe
Transportation officials inked a new 10-year deal with the Greenway Conservancy this week, even after the state’s top fiscal watchdog urged them to hold off while his probe of the nonprofit’s spending is under way.
The revelations — detailed in a letter Inspector General Glenn Cunha sent to MassDOT officials weeks ago — add an immediate layer of scrutiny to the newly hatched deal with the Greenway, which relies on a combined $14 million in state, city and private funds to keep the 17-acre park operating.
MassDOT unveiled the new agreement on Monday, trumpeting it as a “responsible and fair financial structure” that commits another $5.25 million of its own funds to the Greenway’s operating budget over the next six years.
But Cunha, writing on May 23, said his Internal Special Audit Unit had “concerns” about the nonprofit’s use of hundreds of thousands of dollars, ranging from salaries to cellphones. He said that because the nonprofit was supposed to be “self-sustaining,” any public funds shouldn’t stray from their intended purposes, and that any extension should be based on “demonstrated need.”
“The ISAU’s preliminary review has identified concerns with respect to both of these issues,” Cunha wrote. “For these reasons, I urge MassDOT to delay committing the Department to any future funding of the Conservancy.”
But MassDOT officials said they never considered delaying the new deal, despite the red flags, and Conservancy officials lashed out at the criticisms as “merit-less.”
In a letter sent yesterday — after the Herald began asking questions about the probe — state Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack told Cunha that the state had worked with the Greenway for “years” to ensure it stuck to its contract, which limits any state funds to horticulture and maintenance needs.
Pollack added that the new agreement’s structure — which eventually slices state funding from $1.25 million in the first year to $750,000 annually — limits the “opportunities for the types of problems that you have suggested.”
“(W)ith the current subsidy agreement scheduled to lapse at the end of this month and your investigation not complete, we feel that it is important to now move forward with a renewed agreement,” Pollack wrote. “However, should the ISAU investigation ultimately uncover evidence that MassDOT funds have been used by the Conservancy outside of the boundaries of the relevant agreements, MassDOT retains the authority to both cancel the agreements and to seek restitution.”
Cunha yesterday declined comment through a spokesman.
But in his four-page letter, Cunha stressed that his review wasn’t complete, but he targeted a broad range of spending, including:
• Overhead costs, such as information technology and office supplies, which he said are “unrelated to the maintenance of the park itself.”
• $10,000 in uniforms in 2016 alone, including raincoats and jackets from L.L. Bean, boots and embroidered polo shirts, as well as cellphones for maintenance staff.
• And salaries, such as the “highly paid” nonprofit director’s $210,000 salary, its $180,000 chief development officer and its two art curators.
“While the Conservancy purportedly does not use MassDOT funding to support these salaries, spending of other funding sources impacts the Conservancy’s continued reliance on public funding,” he wrote.
Jesse Brackenbury, the nonprofit’s director, countered in his own four-page letter, arguing that it has cut down the number of employees making $90,000 or more and that costs for uniforms and cellphones are appropriate for maintenance staff.
The Greenway added, in a statement: “The requested information has already been reviewed, repeatedly, by independent auditors, government officials, and media outlets and the Conservancy’s spending is continually proven to be appropriate.”