CARCROSS The integrity of accounting procedures employed by past members of the now-defunct Carcross Area Advisory and Planning Committee (CAAPC) is being questioned by 2006 committee members and a territorial government official.

The queries come after 2002 records revealed a former secretary was paid 134 per cent of the group's annual operating budget.

Figures from the group's 2002 general ledger show then-secretary Patricia Harder was paid $17,042.68 for work for which there are few corresponding documents and limited financial records available.

In total, according to CAAPC's 2002 records, the group spent $21,128.47 that year, including the annual government contribution of $12,710 and CAAPC's January 2002 balance of $9,761.06 which was left over from 2001.

The group's balance as of Dec. 31, 2002, according to the financial records, was $1,342.59.

Records also show that a 2002 cheque cashed in March 2003 by a 2002 CAAPC member put the organization into an overdraft position of minus $322.

A Yukon government official has called the accounting methods employed by 2002 CAAPC members odd. A Carcross RCMP official has called them potentially unethical but 'not illegal.'

According to the contribution agreement between the territorial Department of Community Services and CAAPC, the group was allocated $12,710 a year to assist with 'office supplies, secretarial services, letterhead, out-of-pocket expenses for committee buiness, space rental, accounting and audit costs, telephone and general meeting expenses .'

The agreement also states the annual operating budget of $12,710 was to be subject to a 'full accounting for expenditures' that had to be submitted to the government on an annual basis.

According to CAAPC records, no audit was ever performed or submitted to the government in either 2001 or 2002.

Funding of CAAPC continued until 2006.

CAAPC was a grasroots advisory council made up of three appointed members of the Carcross-Tagish First Nation and three elected members from the community at large.

The group, which has had several members and secretaries over the years, is now defunct following the resignations of the most recently elected members on May 8.

In an interview Thursday, former 2006 CAAPC chair Sheila Branigan said previous CAAPC members had forwarded concerns on to the RCMP, and 2006 members sent a registered letter on March 17 to Harder requesting the return of public funds that could not be accounted for.

'Because there are no records to substantiate that any CAAPC business was done for much of your time under contract, it remains subjective as to how much could be owed,' the March 17 letter states.

'The concrete amount that is apparent for repayment is $3,335.44.'

Branigan said members from 2003 to 2006 weren't sure how much of the $21,000 was spent because there were almost no receipts issued by 2002 members and almost no minutes of the group's activities were kept.

'The amount she was paid was pretty excessive. We're not sure what they actually did,' she said.

In an interview Thursday, Harder said she would not disclose any information about the events and accounting that occurred in CAAPC in 2002, including who signed her cheques.

Members involved in CAAPC in 2002, according to records, included: Patrick James, Charlie James, Bill Barret Jr. and Ed Lishman.

'Whatever CAAPC wants to disclose to you guys, that's up to them,' Harder said.

'I'm not going to disclose any of that.'

Harder said the money she was paid was part of her contract and that the $17,000 was spent on office rental, her wages and office supplies.

'I did do work (in) my office,' she said.

While Harder did not have the ability to set her own wage nor make financial decisions, she was unwilling to provide information on which 2002 CAAPC members authorized her payments, who the 2002 CAAPC signing authorities were or how those payments were spent.

This morning, Doug Caldwell, a Department of Community Servcies spokesperson, said in response to media requests the government is seeking to obtain the names of the 2002 signing authorities from the appropriate bank officials.

Harder issued her resignation from CAAPC Oct. 16, 2002 stating she was pursuing other things but would remain as secretary until the end of December 2002.

During Harder's tenure at CAAPC between May 2001 and December 2002, there are records of three meetings, including May 16, 2001, September 19, 2001 and October 16, 2002.

Figures from the 2001 general ledger show that from May 2001 to Dec. 31, Harder was paid $7,045.26.

The previous secretary in 2001, Jan Brault, was paid $3,662.26 between January 2001 and May 2001.

In the beginning of 2001, there are four sets of minutes for meetings in January, February, March and April.

Harder is now employed by the Department of Community Services.

In a recent interview, Eric Magnuson, an assistant deputy minister of the department, said while he is new to his current post, he too believes the group's 2002 accounting records need to be explained.

'To pay in excess of your total revenues by $8,000, and to pay ($17,042) for a secretary for a year; that would occur to me to be an unusual amount,' he said.

'To be able to rationalize spending $20,000 when your annual budget is $12,000, it would lead one to think there was a higher level of activity during those expenditures.

'One would expect to coinicide with that more receipts, more minutes and more documentation of the activities that were occurring,' he said.

Magnuson said two cheques to Harder totalling $2,168 that did not appear as an entry in the ledger also appear odd.

'There's obviously something there that needs to be explained,' he added.

Carcross RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Eric Hendricks said Thursday he had been made aware of the issue several years ago and that the matter had been investigated.

'There was an investigation into this in 2004. It was determined that it was not a criminal matter,' he said.

Hendricks said because the cheques that were issued to Harder matched the cheques recorded in the group's ledger, the matter would likely have to be pursued in civil court.

'I was told there was a contract,' he said. 'It would be a defence for a person to say they were hired on salary.

'To be paid for minimal work would be unethical, but it would be tough to prosecute.'

Hendricks said if anyone came forward with additional information, the investigation could be reopened.

'If people, even those I've already spoken with, are prepared to come forward with new information, there's nothing saying the investigation couldn't be reopened,' he said.

Charlie James, Patrick James, Ed Lishman and Bill Barrett Jr. could not be reached for comment.