California’s untapped $285.5 million

August 5, 2012

California auditors discovered an additional $119 million in untapped monies bringing the total to $286.5 million that lawmakers were unaware of while cutting government funded services and programs, California Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration announced on Friday. [LATimes]

The review of 500 “special” funds by state auditors found some accounts have significantly more reserve cash than what individual departments reported to the state Department of Finance. Some of the  monies were under-reported. Most of the untapped funds were dedicated to special purposes.

For example, the recent discovery includes about $30 million for health-care programs and almost $29 million set aside to reimburse crime victims.

On Friday, Brown, who had previously proposed closing 70 parks, suggested using $20 million in the newly discovered $54 million under-reported by the California Department of Parks and Recreation for matching private donations to ultimately keep the parks open.

While the under-reported cash remained untapped, the parks department claiming dire financial health was soliciting donations slated to help keep some of the to state parks scheduled for closure open, including Morro Strand State Beach campground in San Luis Obispo County.