[topperf]

Is this the way things work in general?

ALBANY - The state Spinal Cord Injury Research Board has not awarded grants in a timely manner, prompting the Legislature to take back $13.5 million one year and withhold funds in others, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in an audit released yesterday.

But the state Health Department, which oversees the board and the Spinal Cord Injury Trust Fund, said no money has been lost because the agency still has the authority to spend the funds.

The Spinal Cord Injury Research Board was created in 1998 and the grants it gives out are funded by a surcharge on drivers who receive traffic tickets. The first grants were not given out until 2001. All told, it took between six months and 487 days after requests for applications were issued to give out the money, the audit found. The funds go to scientists, physicians and other experts researching a cure for spinal-cord injury.

As of May 31, 2007, $63.9 million was deposited into the trust fund. The board gave out $40.9 million of that, but $13.5 million was transferred to the state's General Fund for other uses, the audit said. Moreover, the state declined to appropriate $8.5 million to the fund in 2006-07, and $8.5 million in 2007-08, the report said.

"According to the Public Health Law, the board is responsible for ensuring that funds are used for spinal cord-injury research and not diverted for any other use," DiNapoli's report said. "We found that the department has not awarded all of the funds, resulting in unused funds being taken back by the state Legislature."

The Health Department said that even though the money has not all been spent, it still has the authority to get the money if necessary.

"Money has not been lost," said Claire Pospisil, a spokeswoman for the Health Department.

In its written response to the audit, the Health Department said there was an accumulation of cash in the trust fund the first few years. Funds that are not spent are reappropriated to the next year, "regardless of the level of actual cash deposited." If the amount of cash in the trust fund was less than what was needed, the agency "would consider seeking additional appropriation authority to ensure that authorized research activities are appropriately supported," the department said.

The department said that the program originally had an "inadequate level of experienced staffing." That was rectified when a new director was hired in October 2006, and the agency has since hired additional staff to support the office.

Two of the vacancies on the Spinal Cord Injury Research Board were filled during 2007, leaving only two open spots on the 13-member panel. The agency previously had trouble with low attendance by board members and had some difficulty getting enough members for a quorum to vote, the Health Department said.

Other criticisms in the audit include:

- The state did not provide adequate oversight to ensure that grant objectives were being accomplished. Of the 58 grant contracts that were active or closed as of Aug. 21, 2007, 56 percent of progress reports from grantees had not been submitted, 40 percent of final reports were not in, and none of the statistical-qualitative reports or seminar documentation required to demonstrate grant performance had been submitted.

- Trust Fund officials had never visited a grantee or reviewed support documentation to verify that expenditures were supported.

"If effective oversight was in place, these instances of noncompliance with contract terms would have been detected and corrected," DiNapoli said in the audit.

[Hapahowlee]

Topper,

I'll get back to you on this one. I need to log off now.

Your question, "IS THIS HOW IT WORKS?" Can you elaborate a little since there is so much to this article you have posted? I worked for a non-profit agency for 18+ years and know a lot about grants (both government & private) and accountability, but want to know what you are inquiring about exactly. Thanks and I'll check back later.

This post has been edited by Hapahowlee: 01 July 2008 - 09:38 PM

[topperf]

Hi Hapahowlee.

I guess my point is, that I'd love to get some good news from the states...
Fda is still holding Geron back, money is channeled "wrong" ways, the white house chimp is causing long term trouble...
I know that you're trying to make a difference.. so this I don't get: "The agency previously had trouble with low attendance by board members and had some difficulty getting enough members for a quorum to vote" and "inadequate level of experienced staffing." don't they have any Hapahowlee's in Albany? the research board is good news but reading further..

well.. I WANT THE US TO MOVE ON SCI ... wheres the good news? people say we need money, and here's 13 mill bucks not being spend?
is this a lonely swallow or is this how it works?

[Quad65]

Unfortunately, in any government agency in any country in the world, you will encounter waste, apathy, incompetence, and graft.

[topperf]

maybe true, infact, perhaps most definitely true:) but as long as there is awareness, competence and uncorrupted political will (somebody slaughter me for this amount of naivity...) in a larger doze, there's hope, right?

[knowthill]

Quad65, on Jul 2 2008, 09:12 AM, said:

Unfortunately, in any government agency in any country in the world, you will encounter waste, apathy, incompetence, and graft.

We find this in the public sector too, so what is your point?

[Hapahowlee]

Yes, I suppose it does happen in the public sector too, but if you are a non-profit agency such as the place I worked for 18 years, we received government grants via the State of Missouri. We had guidelines to follow as well as reports to submit and we were subjected to audits and the bookkeeping had to be well in line.

It seems the Federal Government is more careless when it comes to accountability and that’s really a shame because that’s where all the big bucks are getting passed around. The higher up you go the less accountability there seems to be. Monkey Boy happens to be the worse. Or he may be the best at covering up what he really knows.

The best chance for SCI cure is through private research facilities that are funded by philanthropist such as the Howard Hughes Foundation. If the government is not involved in funding, the researchers for such foundations don’t have to abide by government guidelines. They can use embryonic stem cells and the govt. can’t do a thing about it. There are many research facilities (some funded by govt. grants) that I called to inquire about blood cord research and I asked if there is a good chance in finding a cure soon (within the next 5-10 years). Most M.D.s and Ph.D.s I spoke with who run these facilities were very optimistic a cure will be found, but narrow-minded politicians are holding back research by not allowing what truly will accelerate research, which is embryonic stem cells. Had research on embryos been well underway back in 1983, I would have saved what was left after my abortion. If this offends anyone, tough shit! All I aborted were a cluster of cells (half Hapahowlee & half Asshole) and if I knew it could have been used for research for a cure for anything, I would have asked to have it transferred to facility that could have used it.

So for right now Topper, don’t put too much faith in research facilities that rely solely on government grants, or more so Federal Govt. Grants to conduct their research. Check on what the private facilities are doing.

This post has been edited by Hapahowlee: 02 July 2008 - 07:17 PM

[topperf]

Howard Hughes Foundation.. yes, had a great day when I stumbled across them! 6 hours in front of this machine everyday does pay off sometimes( ) - goood news.
sad to hear about the 50% arsehole..

[Quad65]

What's my point? My point is self-evident. Stuff doesn't get done due to the reasons listed. Topperf referred to government grants and research so that's why I referred to government agencies. If he'd mentioned private organizations, my comment would be essentially the same.

Sometimes, the more money that's involved, the more it is wasted or misspent and those in charge are not motivated by the needs they are supposedly addressing. The right people have to be in the right positions to get anything constructive accomplished or the bureaucracy takes over and smothers everything.