And they want to run our health care????

Okay, so the California National Park fols wouldn't be running our healthcare anyway, but the principle is sound. Government entitity, total inepness.

$54 million...now that it's found, I wonder what they'll spend it on.

From KQED News:  State Parks Chief Resigns - Department Found Sitting on $54 Million Surplus

Ruth Coleman resigned this morning and her second in command has been fired. The Sacramento Bee first broke the story.

The inciting incident? The department has been sitting on nearly $54 million in surplus money for as long as 12 years. A rainy day fund, perhaps?

The moves come in the wake of a scandal, revealed by The Bee on Sunday, in which a deputy director at State Parks carried out a secret vacation buyout program for employees at headquarters last year. That buyout cost the state more than $271,000. The Bee submitted a Public Records Act request, started digging, and learned more gob smacking stuff.

John Laird, secretary of the state Natural Resources Agency, which oversees State Parks, told The Bee that investigations have been launched by both the Attorney General's office and the Department of Finance to figure out how -- and why -- the Department of Parks and Recreation squirreled away so much money for so long.

"Ruth has stepped up and taken personal responsibility," Laird said of Coleman, who is the longest-serving director in the 150-year history of the department. "It's an incredibly troubling discovery." 

The surplus money consists of $20.3 million in the Parks and Recreation Fund, and $33.5 million in the Off Highway Vehicle Fund, which are the two primary operating funds at the agency. This money was not reported to either Finance or the State Controller's Office, in contrast to normal budgeting procedures.

Bear in mind that 70 state parks were set to close for the want of $22 million dollars over two fiscal years. A reminder: in late June, just ahead of the July 1st "deadline," the Department announced that 65 parks either have a deal, or one in the works, to avoid closure. The Governor also signed legislation that provides some money to give a little extra time to hash out those couple dozen deals still in the work.

Most of those closures did not happen because of near-heroic fundraising from non-profits across the state, but the money could also have prevented cutbacks in hours, staffing and services system wide. In an interview Friday morning with The Bee, Laird said the discovered funds are "one-time" money and it will be up to the Legislature to decide how to use it.