CPRA Has Not Verified State Match is Correct for Coastal Projects nor Does Its Master Plan Address Project Inflation Costs, Auditors Find

A new report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor finds that the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) is not verifying the amount of state match money used in federal cost-sharing projects. CPRA officials say they have tried to obtain the numbers, but the federal government has not cooperated. Since 2008, CPRA has not verified that the $47.7 million the state has paid to the federal government for coastal projects was the accurate amount that was owed.

CPRA’s Master Plan budget also fails to take into account project inflation costs or scope changes. As a result, the cost of fully implementing the $50 billion plan could end up higher, reaching as much as $94.7 billion to $113 billion, according to estimates by the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy.

At the same time, CPRA has identified $19.5 billion in potential funding for its projects, but only $9.7 billion is guaranteed. The 50-year Master Plan was first released in 2007. A 2012 update included a $50 billion budget for 109 projects to help prevent and restore coastal land loss and increase flood protection.

In addition, CPRA was unable to determine how much money it was spending on each project until 2015, when the authority switched to a new accounting system – LaGov. Authority officials believe the new system will help them track expenditures project by project.

Other findings include:

· CPRA does not require that pre-construction agreements with local levee districts for protection projects include future operation and maintenance costs for those projects.
· CPRA does not evaluate whether completed projects are actually achieving Master Plan goals.
· CPRA does not put together an annual report showing actual funding and expenditures, and whether objectives are being met.