Homeless Coalition facing financial trouble

When Dick Daggett, executive director of Highlands County Coalition for the Homeless, took the position three months ago he didn't expect to walk into an agency on the brink of losing it all.

"I knew they had problems but I don't think anyone knew how deep it was," Daggett said.

The coalition is close to losing half a million dollars in potential federal grants if they don't come into compliance with federal agencies like the Department of Children and Families.

The organization said missing bookkeeping records dating back to 2007 may lead them to close its doors forever.

With no where else to go, the estimated 700 families they service a year would have no last resort.

Daggett spent three months reconstructing three years worth of finances.

"I don't want to see this place fold," Daggett said.

"We're in a bad economy, people are losing their jobs, their homes," he added.

The agency needs to come up with $10,000 to pay for an audit report by Sept. 17. That's the last day they have to prove to DCF that they will come into compliance.

Internal conflicts led to financial trouble

Last week DCF requested 19 corrections in the coalition's federal and state tax forms and accounting records.

A Department of Community Affairs' July report stated they were unable to determine the financial condition of the agency due to a lack of an accounting system like QuickBooks for the year ending June 2010.

That's not so, according to former Executive Director Richard Reinhardt, who was fired by the board of directors for management conflicts on Feb. 2, 2009.

"The documents are all there," Reinhardt said.

He claims when the board made the decision to fire him they seized all the documents and computer from his office. The monthly financial reports are in Microsoft Excel files and from 2008 forward they can be found in QuickBooks, he said.

As for the hard copies, "They're sitting in boxes," Reinhardt said.

Reinhardt said financial reports were given to all board members during their monthly meetings.

"We had a paper trail for everything," he argued.

Former Coalition volunteer and board member Anthony Lomonico supported Reinhardt's claim.

Barbara Cook, president of the board who disapproved of Reinhardt's management, did not return calls by press time.

But in a February interview she told Highlands Today, "The agency has developed to a point that the board felt it needed new leadership."

Future unknown

The Coalition falls under the umbrella of Florida's Heartland Rural Consortia for the Homeless, Inc., a non-profit agency that manages the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (better known as LIHEAP) grant for six counties including Highlands.

The coalition's messy bookkeeping led them to lose the administration rights of the $850,000 LIHEAP grant, which is now being administered by Agricultural Labor and Program Inc., an agency out of Polk County, according to Daggett.

Highlands County's portion of that grant is $299,000, he said.

The agency could lose two employees if DCA puts the administration of that grant out to bid. The only way to stop that from happening is for them to come into compliance. But when you're dealing with a million dollars worth of federal grants that's easier said than done, Daggett said.

He's already back tracked 2007-2008 but couldn't avoid a $4,000 penalty by the Internal Revenue Service for an incomplete tax form.

Daggett was able to save the county's Homeless Prevention Rapid Rehousing grant from being pulled by one day.

Now his hurdle is completing the paper trail for 2008-2009, which has about $30,000 unaccounted for.

According to Daggett, if the agency can't produce all the financial reports they could be shut down.

So far all they've been able to find are cancelled checks and some of Reinhardt's hand written notes.

Reinhardt said this could have been avoided if the board's decision to fire him wasn't so hostile.

"This is a complex organization. We were administering five grants," said Reinhardt, who estimated the organization's grants equaled $1.9 million when he left.

A leap from the estimated $35,000 he started with in 2006, he said.

Despite the controversy, Daggett's main concern is bringing the agency into compliance. He has less than three weeks to do it.

He's hoping a certified public accountant will offer to take the job pro bono or for a reduced cost. The agency will also accept donations toward the $10,000 needed for the audit.

"I'm not going to walk away and let this fail," Daggett said, "I don't like to lose."