With the removal of it’s “high risk” designation by the U.S. Department of Justice, the local Criminal Justice Planning Agency was able to draw down nearly $1 million in USDOJ grant money in March this year, according to the CJPA’s fiscal year 2015 second quarter performance report covering the period of Jan.1 - Mar. 31, 2015.

In the report, CJPA executive director Keith Gebauer said that near the conclusion of the 2nd quarter, the agency’s accounts receivable had ballooned to $15 million, of which $334,000 was from expired grants that had been deemed uncollectible.

He explained that the main reason for the huge receivables was the hold on CJPA’s drawdowns “as we were in the final steps with our grantors to close out a 2009 financial site visit and remove our ‘high risk’ designation” by USDOJ.

As of the end of March this year, CJPA was able to successfully drawn down nearly $1 million of accounts receivable to reimburse the ASG general fund, he said.

He says this was a long and difficult process that wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of the CJPA staff, led by deputy director Leonard Seumanutafa, the agency’s partners in Washington D.C. and ASG Treasury’s grant division.

With the “high risk” designation removed, Gebauer said CJPA should realize immediate results, “especially regarding our ability to reimburse the ASG general fund in a timely fashion and our ability to fund our sub-grantee’s allowable expenditures.”

He also said that CPJA remains optimistic on the amount of USDOJ funding that will be available. “We will proceed with caution and continue to carefully review all active grants to provide the best possible guidance for our sub-grantees for the remainder of FY 2015,” he explained.

CJPA administers several USDOJ grants, such as the Justice Assistance Grant, Residential Substance Abuse Treatment, Violence Against Women Act, and Victims of Crime Act.

According to Gebauer, the agency has operated within the 2nd quarter local budget allocation as provided by ASG. The approved FY 2015 local revenues provide for personnel costs for the executive director and deputy director while all remaining personnel costs and administrative expenses are covered by federal grants.

CJPA’s FY 2015 budget totals $1.83 million — with $141,000 in local funding and the rest from federal grants, according to the FY 2015 budget document.