AUDIT: HARBOR'S BOOKS A MESS; MISSING RECORDS ON PAYOUTS HAVE OFFICIALS PUZZLED.

Byline: David Greenberg Daily News Staff Writer

At least five years of poor bookkeeping at the Ventura County Harbor Department has left county auditors bewildered as to why nearly twice as much money was paid annually from the harbor state loan fund than in the current fiscal year, an audit released Thursday showed.

Since November, county auditors have been hunting for missing records that would explain why billings have declined from an average of $1.1 million in fiscal years 1993-97 to an estimated $635,000 this fiscal year.

``They should have adequate documentation, and it is not there,'' said auditor Thomas Mahon.

Auditors do not know whether the state loan fund was overcharged for services rendered by the harbor staff for state-funded projects or whether those services should have been paid through another department fund.

The audit also did not show any subsidy payments made directly from the state loan fund to the Parks Division, which would have been in violation of the county's loan agreement with the state.

Harbor Department director Lyn Krieger, who has headed her office for only the last six months of the audit period, said she did not oversee the budgets during the audit years. She said the department will establish a ``strong records trail'' for future expenditures.

``It's to our advantage to have them,'' Krieger said.

Since 1970, the loan fund has received about $7 million from the state, of which $4.5 million remains in debt. Under the agreement, the revenues generated from the projects that received state loans are deposited in the loan account to pay off the debt or for future improvements to those projects.

``We've paid off the loans regularly,'' Mahon said.

As a result, Mahon said he does not believe the audit will worsen the county's bond rating for future loans - consistently in the top seven among the state's 58 counties.

The Harbor Department was under the umbrella of the General Services Administration until 1996, when county supervisors declared it an independent agency.

Once thought to be the county's cash cow, it subsidized parks from 1979 through last year, with allotments reaching about $1 million annually from the harbor administrative fund. But the supervisors nullified the arrangement last fall, citing the continued financial decline of the Channel Islands Harbor.

County officials now are waiting to see whether the state Department of Boating and Waterways, which grants the loans, will call for its own audit or order some of the funds from the harbor administrative fund to be put back into the loan fund.

``It's up to the state to decide what (it) wants to do,'' Mahon said.

The audit was expected to be mailed to the state Thursday.

Mahon said he will initiate another audit within a year to determine whether the Harbor Department's record-keeping methods have improved.

Funds are generally available for construction or improvements to marinas, boating and fuel docks and marinas in a designated area covering about 15 percent to 20 percent of the harbor.

Krieger said she hopes to present a proposed master plan for the harbor to the supervisors May 12. The long-term strategy is expected to call for improved leasing and marketing strategies as a means of increasing revenues to the department, now operating at about a break-even point.