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California Finds $119M in Missing Funds

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    H.D. Palmer of the California Department of Finance on the funds found during an audit.

  • Duration 3:37
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This transcript is automatically generated

State of California.

-- seventy.

As its debt keeps getting bigger and bigger a whopping 119.

Million dollars in untapped -- haven't -- and all have to dig it up was an audit.

-- not magic.

But millions do seem to keep magically appearing in California so to make sense of this hundred ray HD Palmer deputy director of the department of finance for the state of California.

Each -- I appreciate your time and we don't have a lot of it I wanna get right to it.

You know this started with some reporting -- Mike Rosenberg -- the San Jose Mercury news when he originally dug up these discrepancies.

But now the numbers are just piling higher and higher that was 2.3 billion.

The latest as 119 million that just appeared how does this happen.

Well the Mercury news report that you cited was corrected over the weekend it started when we started investigating the parks department budget which -- -- -- reporter on this program.

And so we took that information -- governor brownie said if there's a problem with one fund -- Kamal and so that's -- we did over the last three weeks.

We went through 560 special funds fund by fund line by line.

-- -- we find that we've done a first of all that the parks department was now liar who's an anomaly we didn't find any other examples of anybody in state government -- away -- reporting resources from either Russert legislature.

We also -- we need to do some more work in areas like the public utilities commission to true up their books.

We also -- and we need to put in some controls to be able to reconcile some of the special fund numbers.

With the state comptroller's office just as we do is a matter of course for the ninety plus billion dollar general what.

The -- is there was a 119 million dollars lying around that was unaccounted for.

No there was a difference in between what -- fund balances were last June relative to what the -- -- -- it was more money that you thought you hat.

Exactly some little I don't know how you mechanics I happen to visit you -- numbers you intentionally.

Well in the case of the parks department it became very clear to -- there was a willful.

But ten going back more than a decade to withhold information not only from.

Various administrations but from the state legislatures well.

It's of the governor -- want to -- what would benefit what happens to them now.

Well -- governor's already taken personnel actions that yes he's asked the attorney general's office to investigate.

He's asked us -- department of finance to do a top to bottom audit of the state parks department which is under way.

Any asks us to look at each one of these 560 special funds which we just concluded last week.

Why would they do -- why -- this for a quick money not tell you about it what are they gonna use it for what was the plan.

That's what we're trying to find out it doesn't seem to make sense at a time we were cut in the parks department budget.

Why would an agency be wanting to sit on twenty million dollars and one fund that's what the attorney -- looking and that's what we're looking.

These -- really big numbers that of course make taxpayers furious at a time when California is going broke.

And is asking its citizens to cough up more and more money to think that there is money lying around -- That isn't being used is it being -- -- of four.

Makes people so all angry what would you say that those furious people.

I would say that you can take a look at what's happened over the last few weeks and -- in you can point to the fact that Governor Brown.

Has been unearthing this and this practice that apparently has gone on in the case of the parks department.

For more than a decade as soon as he found out about it he directed us to go in check everything out and put our cards face up and on the table.

Which is what we -- report and the findings to the legislature this week.

And will continue to implement a number of procedures so that these types of these types of accounting issues don't happen again.

Eight -- -- thank you for coming on and I hope that -- -- out more you will come back again and give us another report.

Absolutely -- to.

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