BY COLLEEN KEANE
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
ALBUQUERQUE — If a bill questioning Alamo Chapter’s use of tribal and state funds is approved at the next Navajo Nation Budget and Finance Committee meeting, the chapter’s budget could be slashed by up to 20 percent until several financial problems get straightened out.
Just how much that might turn out to be may be hard to determine because the chapter did not develop operating budgets for the past fiscal year, 2015/2016.
The lack of budgets is among 14 unsolved issues the Navajo Nation Auditor General’s office found recently while preparing a follow-up report on a corrective action plan approved by the Budget and Finance Committee in October of 2014.
According to a letter from Elizabeth Begay, chief executive for the Auditor General, to Alamo Chapter President Stanley Herrera on Sept. 2, Alamo Chapter failed to implement the plan and recommended that sanctions, based on the Navajo Nation Code, be applied.
Outstanding financial issues include: lack of documentation for monies spent on purchases and direct services, like housing and emergency requests; incomplete inventory lists; unreconciled bank statements; uninsured property; failure to deposit federal taxes in a timely manner; and failure to keep community members informed, to name a few.
The report covers the period of October 2015 to March 2016.
It gives clues on the amount of money that’s passed through the Chapter, or is getting stuck there.
For example, there’s the matter of a carry-over of an unexpended $425,000, along with $6,150 from the Nation’s General Fund and $21,912 from a Tri-State budget.
In Begay’s letter to Herrera, she points out what she seems to see as the most egregious omission in the financial mix.
“The chapter didn’t provide needed services to the chapter membership,” she writes, refer- ring most likely to housing and emergency funds.
One community member, who said he’s a disabled elder (he doesn’t want to be identified), testified to this.
The Alamo elder, who lives on the south side of the com- munity, said that he first asked for help from the Chapter last summer to fix his leaky roof.
But, in applying for emer- gency funds, he said he got the run-around.
“I had to do this. I had to do that,” he said.
The roof of his two-room home still needs fixing
“It’s cold in here,” he mentioned adding that his house does not have any insulation.
Now, that the winter has set in, he’s frustrated.
“I’m elderly. I need help, now,” he said.
Calls to Chapter President Herrera weren’t returned before deadline.
But, in a press release from the Office of the Speaker, Herrera is quoted as saying there are lots of reasons that the Chapter has not complied with the corrective action plan.
He states that the Chapter did not have an adequate number of staff to resolve the audit
‘Is it fair to sanction Alamo Chapter?’
Walter Phelps
Council Delegate
findings; it lacked a community services coordinator; and requests for technical assistance from the Auditor General’s office didn’t pan out.
Herrera’s defense caught the attention of Council Delegate Walter Phelps (Cameron/Coalmine Canyon/Leupp/Tolani Lake/ Tsidi To’ii) who raised concerns over sanctioning the Alamo Chapter when it did not get the technical support it asked for.
“Is it fair to sanction Alamo Chapter?” asked Phelps, according to the press release from the Office of the Speaker.
Still, what concerns Alamo community member Hotana Secatero the most is that community members have been in the dark when it comes to the chapter’s budget and how funds are being spent.
“The community needs to be involved. We can do so much more, together, to meet the needs of community members,” she said.
The Alamo elder who needs his roof fixed said he didn’t know where the money is going either.
But, he hopes somehow, some- one will step in.
“I’m old. I need help,” he said.
The bill – Legislation. No. 0386-16 – was approved by the Resources and Development Committee on Nov. 29 agreeing with the recommended sanctions until corrective actions are implemented, along with ordering technical assistance to the chapter from the Administrative Services Center and the Office of Auditor General.
The bill goes to the Budget and Finance Committee for approval at the next meeting scheduled tentatively for Dec. 20, according to a spokesperson for the Office of the Speaker.