LAWMAKERS SAY MONITOR ANTI-DRUG FUND CLOSELY

A council that funds New Jersey's local anti-drug programs will be
altered to ensure its $10 million a year is spent with oversight,
lawmakers said Monday.

"We must have systems in place to safeguard the public's money,"
Assemblywoman Sheila Y. Oliver, D-Essex, said during a hearing before
the Assembly Human Services Committee. "We must build in
administrative capabilities and sets of guidelines."

The committee is examining whether to put the Governor's Council on
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse within the Department of Human Services. It
took no vote on the matter Monday.

Last month, an audit by the state Controller's Office found a series
of lapses within the council, which distributes about $10 million a
year in drug fines to 403 local groups known as Municipal Alliances.
The alliances, run largely by volunteers, educate communities about
illicit substances.

For 19 years -- since the council began in 1989 -- it had operated
without a financial review, the comptroller found. Some of the paid
staff had few or no job responsibilities, and several employees took
more than the 15 sick days allowed each year, the audit found.

In three years of financial records, auditors found questionable
expenses, including a lack of purchase orders and invoices.
Comptroller Matthew Boxer concluded that it was unacceptable for the
council to handle $30 million during that time "without attempting
to find out what the public is getting."

On the day the audit was released, Marylou Powner, director of the
council, said the comptroller's report was "seriously flawed," but
added that it would follow the recommendations.

On Monday, a dozen people who have worked with the governor's council
and the local alliances testified in favor of its work.

"Our programs out there are good. We have a process in place that is
good," said Neil Van Ess, a Totowa police detective who is acting
chairman of the council. "There were discrepancies in our reporting
system."

Kevin Meara, a councilman from Hamilton in Mercer County, defended
his alliance's use of grant money for a community fair that included
pony rides, a fact that had been criticized in the auditor's report.
He called such events crucial for his township, which has seen
several heroin-related deaths in the past year -- including that of
his 24-year-old son.

Oliver, chairwoman of the Assembly committee, said the programs
provided a valuable service, and she praised the staff and
volunteers. But she said accountability was necessary.

"No one can function as a free agent within state government," Oliver
said. "You cannot have one way of requesting reimbursement in
Burlington County and one way of requesting reimbursement in Hudson
County."