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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Environment - "State recycling panel shocked by $11M transfer" [Updated]

This brief AP story, with no identifications, was posted on the Indianapolis Star website this afternoon:

Members of a state panel that oversees funding used to attract recycling companies to Indiana say they're shocked that budget officials recently shifted $11 million out of that recycling fund to buoy the state's general fund.

One member of the Recycling Market and Development Board says the panel was “blind-sided” by the transfer, which occurred June 30 and left about $5.4 million in the fund.

Panel members didn't learn of the transfer until Thursday, 44 days after the money was moved to help alleviate Indiana's revenue shortfall.

They grilled a state official about why the board wasn't consulted about the transfer.

The money was moved eight months after the state's environmental agency froze the money in the grant and loan program, citing the lingering recession.

Who is on the Board? Here is the list.

Also of interest is this page for the Recycling Promotion and Assistance Fund (RPAF). The page points out that grants and loans from the Fund have been curtailed, but says nothing about the bulk money in the dedicated fund itself having been withdrawn and put to other uses by the budget agency:

This fund provides loans and grants to promote and assist recycling throughout Indiana by focusing on economic development efforts. It is administered by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) and operates under the auspices of the Recycling and Energy Development Board as established by IC 4-23-5.5.
[Updated 8/14/09] Here is the expanded AP story by Rick Callahan. Some quotes:
Members of a state panel that oversees funding used to attract recycling companies to Indiana expressed shock Thursday that state budget officials recently shifted $11 million from the recycling fund to the state’s main checking account.

State Sen. Jean Breaux, D-Indianapolis, said she and other members of the Recycling Market and Development Board were “blindsided” by the transfer, which occurred June 30.

The panel’s members, who didn’t learn of the transfer until they met Thursday for a regularly scheduled meeting, grilled a state environmental official about why the board wasn’t consulted or told before it happened.

“What’s the point of having this board if we don’t have any input into the outcome of the decisions that affect the very product we’re supposed to be overseeing?” asked Breaux, a nonvoting board member.

The transfer, which left about $5.4 million in the recycling fund, was used to help alleviate the state’s revenue shortfall, said Rick Bossingham, an official with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

Bossingham, the assistant commissioner of IDEM’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Technical Assistance, said the state’s Office of Management and Budget made the transfer without consulting IDEM as part of efforts by Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration to help cover the state’s revenue shortfall. He said the money would not be returned to the fund. * * *

[B]oard chairman Bruce Burrow said he and the other board members were never told the money would be moved.

“Obviously, they have the right to do that, the ability to do that, but the communication factor was lacking and that’s most disconcerting, as is what’s going to happen in the future as the funds continue to grow,” he said.

Burrow asked Bossingham if IDEM could re-examine the possibility of releasing $1.3 million the board awarded in December to three companies, which between them planned to bring 60 new jobs to Indiana.

“That’s what sticks in my craw the most,” Burrow said. “We’re sitting on $5 million and we’ve committed $1.3 million, but we still can’t allocate those funds.”

Bossingham said he would pass on the new request but the fund remains frozen indefinitely.

Jeffrey Miller, a board member and president of the Indiana Recycling Coalition, said the state’s decisions regarding the funds send “a bad signal” to recycling companies that might be interested in locating in Indiana.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 13, 2009 05:47 PM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government