The 79th Street Boat Basin is leaking money, an audit by the City Comptroller’s Office revealed yesterday.
A close look at the West Side marina’s financial statements shows that tens of thousands of dollars in fees may have flowed straight into Parks Department employees’ pockets – and during the course of the audit numerous red flags were raised, Comptroller Bill Thompson said.
In fact, while the investigation was under way in August 2006, the boat basin’s chief dockmaster resigned abruptly.
“It just appears as if there’s just no controls over everything,” said Thompson. “Everything appears to have been in total disarray and the lack of controls there is troubling. It’s a strange coincidence that as we went through our audit the dockmaster left.”
Chief among the irregularities noted at the basin are missing customer fees.
Twenty-three customers told the auditors they paid car-parking fees totaling $66,250 in 2005, but the Boat Basin recorded only $22,750 as being paid by those customers.
Twenty-five customers claim to have paid a cumulative $71,000 the next year, but the basin noted only $57,000 on the books, the comptroller said.
It is still unclear where the missing money went – or why former Dockmaster Greg Smith resigned. He could not be reached for comment.
One Boat Basin employee tried to place an unauthorized order for a two-year supply of customer receipts, the auditors found, which could have been used to facilitate two sets of books.
Current Chief Dockmaster William Linden and Marina Manager Nate Grove referred all questions to Parks Department higher-ups.
“Parks has strengthened the management and financial controls of the 79th Street Boat Basin and has already implemented many of the changes suggested in the audit,” Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe responded.
“The audit found no instances of fraud or misappropriation and we continue to disagree with the audit’s characterization of several events as ‘red flag’ fraud indicators.”
The Parks Department also said the Boat Basin has enjoyed robust success in the past few years, with more customers than ever, and over the course of the audit switched from a cash system to credit cards, which the department said could explain some irregularities in the books.