LV Housing Authority may have to pay back HUD

Sito Negron

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004 | 11:23 a.m.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has asked the Las Vegas Housing Authority to justify its use of about $3 million within 45 days or risk having to return the money to the federal government.

"This is opportunity for the board ... to find out where their housing authority is now and develop some strategies about where they want it be," said Las Vegas HUD office director Ken LoBene.

The demand stems from a review of the authority that was requested by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman after a report last year that indicated problems with the contracting process. The report was completed last week.

"It's in the best interests of the housing authority to follow the spirit of the audit and make sure they account for their use of public money," Goodman said.

Housing authority officials did not return telephone calls seeking comment Tuesday morning.

LoBene said the size of the authority, which runs a $65 million a year operation, explains some of the issues brought up in the report, which also indicates that administrative expenses are out of line with what similar operations report.

"When you're talking about a $65 million a year operation you're going to have things you want to look at, and when an auditor comes in they'll find it," he said.

However, he said, "some of the findings, like the administrative costs, are something the authority would really want to look at. "

The report, prepared by HUD, outlines 36 violations of federal, state or local regulations going back as far as five years. The violations that led to the request that the authority justify itself or send the money back involved:

Goodman's request followed an inspector general's review last year that questioned $158,705 in spending, including a public relations contract given to then-Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera in 2001.

The public relations contract was labeled an ineligible expenditure of federal funds in the report.

The board has since changed contract-awarding procedures so that any contract worth more than $25,000 go before the housing authority commission for approval.

Also around that time, Goodman replaced four of the five LVHA board members, and asked HUD to provide special training to the new board to prevent similar future problems.