By JIM BUTLER

The Housing Authority of Rapides Parish ended 2022 with about $100,000 in uncollected rent.

It collected $510,000 from tenants in the same year, according to its audit report issued this month.

Auditors attributed the accounts receivable to not following policy, including reviewing accounts and collecting.

Responding, Executive Director Patricia Boss Jackson noted the impact of the pandemic-driven eviction moratorium as well as the fact that tenants who have applied for emergency rental assistance cannot/could not be evicted while their application is or was pending.

The moratorium has been lifted, but programs channeling emergency rent assistance are bogged down in bureaucratic layers across the country.

Jackson told auditors the Authority will review and make efforts to collect rent on a timely basis. 

The Authority owns/manages Boyce Gardens and Section 8 housing. 

Revenue from Housing and Urban Development represented 84 percent of its income. 

About $1.3 million of its $3.2 million spending was to landlords in the assisted rent program. The year’s total spending included $111,000 in non-cash depreciation. Total revenue was $3.37 million. 

Michael T. Jones is Authority board chairman. Zelda Smith is co-chair. Other members are Michael W. Jones and Harold Elliott. Board members are unpaid. 

According to the audit, payroll expense totaled $374,000.

Jackson’s base salary was $196,663. Total value of her compensation, according to the audit, was $220,704. 

That includes insurance cost, per diem, reimbursements, registration fees and employer contributions to retirement and Social Security funds. 

The Authority pays 40.1 to 40.7 percent of salary into the retirement fund, employees pay 7.5-8.0, depending on wage level, the audit notes. 

The Authority paid $150,000 into the fund during the year; employees $3,000. 

The full audit report can be read at the Legislative Auditor website.