LITTLE ROCK — Lawmakers will take up lingering questions about a $4 million shortfall and misuse of federal funds at the state Forestry Commission when legislative budget hearings begin next week, a co-chairman of the budget committee said Thursday.
Gov. Mike Beebe said his office also is investigating to determine who is responsible for the agency’s money woes.
“I’m looking at my own inquiry … I know what people have said to me but I want more than that,” Beebe told reporters before addressing the Arkansas Municipal League’s winter conference.
Beebe said he also supports a review by the Legislature.
“The Legislature needs to also look at this because the legislative body looking at an executive agency creates more transparency,” Beebe said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Budget hearings begin Tuesday in advance of the Legislature’s fiscal session, which begins Feb. 13. The governor has said he will ask lawmakers to approve $2.7 million in supplemental funding for the Forestry Commission during the session. About $1.2 million would repay the federal government grant money that was inappropriately used by the agency for ongoing expenses, and about $1.5 million would help fund Forestry Commission operations through the end of the fiscal year.
In hearings last month, Forestry Commission Director John Shannon acknowledged to lawmakers that the agency used federal grant money to bolster its operations though grant money was not supposed to be used for that purpose. Beebe said Thursday he has met with Shannon and several lawmakers, and plans to discuss the issue with other employees in the agency.
“What I want is a bottom line answer to a number of questions I still have in my mind about the miscertification of income,” Beebe said. “Why did they do that? Was it a mistake? Was it intentional? Were they told to do that by somebody who knew about it? Those are the questions I want to get answered.”
Rep. Kathy Webb, D-Little Rock, co-chairman of the Joint Budget Committee, said the panel normally reviews the budgets of the six largest state agencies during a fiscal session, but that some lawmakers asked that the Forestry Commission be added to the list.
The Legislative Council approved the request last month.
In addition, Webb said a smaller committee chaired by herself and budget committee co-chairman Sen. Gilbert Baker, R-Conway, also will be meet separately from the budget hearings to discuss the Forestry Commission.
Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, said Thursday in his address to the Municipal League that he wants to know why the shortfall occurred at the Forestry Commission, but he also wants to make sure that the agency is funded because it plays a vital roll in rural Arkansas.
“I don’t know about ya’ll, but down in south Arkansas we would have burned to the ground if it hadn’t been for the forestry crews out fighting fires and helping the rural fire departments,” Teague said. “I want to be sure we protect forestry, which is the backbone of the economy in my part of the world.”