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Spending fracas colors LPEA board election

Dreyspring

Incorrect numbers in a report on spending by La Plata Electric Associations board members in the fourth quarter of 2013 make it appear they spent $34,000 more in the corresponding period the next year.

In reality, board-related activities resulted in an increase only $11,000 more in 2014 than in 2013.

The discrepancy was brought to light by board member Britt Bassett on Monday. LPEA official agree that the numbers were wrong, but they don’t have an explanation of how it happened.

“Someone changed the figures,” Bassett told The Durango Herald on Monday.

Some LPEA members are using the discrepancy as political ammunition against incumbents during this year’s LPEA board election, Bassett said.

LPEA officials agreed that the numbers for the fourth quarter of 2013 are incorrect, but they had no explanation other than it was human error.

The issue is crucial, Bassett said, in light of possible tight races to fill four board seats. Winners will be announced at the LPEA annual meeting May 16 in Pagosa Springs.

Bassett, an incumbent running in District 3, provided copies of the financial reports that bear him out.

“I don’t have an answer,” LPEA Executive Director Mike Dreyspring said late Monday. “But it appears to be human error. All the checks didn’t catch the incorrect numbers.”

Accounting and finance personnel prepare the reports that Bassett referred to, Dreyspring said.

LPEA Chief Financial Officer Dennis Svanes said erroneous numbers of such magnitude should have been spotted. Svanes said he looked at financial records for several years past but didn’t find where the incorrect numbers originated.

Svanes said it would be “challenging” to find an answer.

LPEA board members are paid, when relevant, per diem and for mileage, rooms, meals, airfare, courses, insurance and miscellaneous expenses.

In the January 2014 report, total board expenditures for fourth quarter 2013 came to $67,529. In the January 2015 report, expenditures for the same period amounted to $44,003.

Figures for all eight expense categories for 2013 were lower in the 2015 report than in the 2014 report. The bulk of the difference: Per diem was $5,000 less, insurance was $13,000 less, rooms were $3,000 less, miscellaneous expenses almost $700 less. But all categories were reduced.

The January 2015 report then showed expenditures of $78,662 for fourth quarter 2014.

In a letter to the editor in the Herald, Bassett says increased expenses in 2014 stem from costs connected to selecting a new CEO, a job that went to Dreyspring.

The 2013 numbers presented in the 2014 financial report were decreased, and that is why it appears the 2014 numbers are much greater, Bassett said.

Annual board expenditures for 2011-14, Bassett said, have been fairly consistent – $251,750, $240,568, $242,489 and $258,152, respectively.

daler@durangoherald.com



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