Audit Finds Various Deficiencies In Austin Historic Preservation Program

AUSTIN, TX — An audit of the city's historic preservation program yielded a glimpse into an ineffective oversight by the Austin Planning and Zoning Department that makes the program vulnerable to theft of funds and inconsistent monitoring of treasured landmarks.

The revelations came during Monday's meeting of the Audit and Finance Committee, when the P&Z Department was portrayed as failing to collect or document nearly 60 percent of required fees auditors sampled, the Austin American-Statesman and other media outlets reported. This lax oversight makes the money vulnerable to theft, according to the report.

Auditors noted that P&Z officials fail to document the status of cases, the Statesman noted, or even who's responsible for reviewing them. There's also no method of tracking consistency for case decisions that are made by a single staff member, according to the report.

The audit further found a lack of information to make informed decisions on historic building status, an assertion made by the volunteer Historic Landmark Commission. This dearth of information makes the city vulnerable to lawsuits, the audit found.

“This is very concerning and supports what we’ve been hearing from the community,” Council Member Leslie Pool said at the Audit and Finance Committee earlier this week. Austin City Council member Kathie Tovo, the chair of the committee, added she knows of several cases in which commissioners gave the wrong information to each other about the very process of making historic recommendations given confusion over the process, the Statesman reported.

P&Z Director Greg Guernsey added he was surprised to learn Austin has fewer staff members dedicated to historic preservation than found in numerous other cities, according to the report. There are only three such staff members locally, with plans to hire a sixth, at a time when comparably sized cities have six in the function.

Among recommendations made by auditors was implementation of a digital system for tracking fees and cases rather than the paper documentation currently utilized; establishing a process to document those fees; documenting justification for administrative approval of alteration, demolition or relocation cases; improving the process for inspecting historic properties; and enhancing training and legal support for commission members.

P&Z Department staff have reportedly agreed to implement the improvements by next year, according to the report.

As KXAN noted in its report, the role of the preservation program administered by the Historic Preservation Office, is to protect and enhance buildings exemplifying Austin’s history and culture. The city currently has three historic districts and more than 600 historical landmarks, including such structures as the Driskill Hotel downtown, Tarrytown mansions, east Austin churches and homes throughout Hyde Park.

>>> Pictured, the Goodman Building, a late Victorian-style historic commerce building located in downtown Austin, via WikiMedia Commons