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SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- The California State Auditor released a report on Thursday saying the Department of Parks and Recreation's weak procedures led to inconsistent budgetary reporting and difficulties in measuring the impact of efforts to keep parks open.
Save Our Shores, a non-profit organization in Santa Cruz, has been operating with one less staff person when it lost all of its state funding last year.
For nine months, Laura Kasa of Save Our Shores helped raise $10,000 for signs to get people to clean up parks, since she thought the state couldn't do it.
"We didn't want to see our beaches suffering as a result of this," she said.
But today, the 60-page report by the California State Auditor concluded for years Parks and Recreation continually reported different fund balance amounts, and when it was notified about it in 1999, nothing changed until this past fall.
The report also said Parks and Recreation couldn't justify how it selected the 70 parks to be closed.
"Hopefully, because of this crisis, they'll be able to figure out a way to manage these beautiful beaches and parks," Kasa said.
Central Coast News reached out to the Department of Parks and Recreation and haven't heard back as of Thursday night.
