Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Will Fresno EOC Board Order Forensic Audit of Troubled Finances?
NANCY WEBSITE HEADSHOT 1
By Nancy Price, Multimedia Journalist
Published 1 day ago on
March 17, 2025

The Fresno EOC is scheduled to vote on a forensic audit contract. (GV Wire Composite)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission board of directors is scheduled to vote Monday evening on awarding a contract for a forensic audit to delve into the agency’s deficit spending and depletion of reserves in recent years.

Interim CEO Brian Angus had recommended that the audit focus on three areas — transportation, food services, and administration — with the biggest deficits. In the audit committee minutes, Angus said those programs are funded by fee-for-service, not grants.

But the audit committee voted unanimously last month on a motion by Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula to also include Head Start, the agency’s biggest program.

Arambula, who replaced his mother, Amy, on the commission board last fall after she raised concerns about its finances, had called for a forensic audit when he wrote a public letter to commissioners charging that the agency had been “hemorrhaging” money and draining its reserves.

The board is scheduled to vote on a $123,250 forensic audit contract with Wipfli, a Minneapolis-based accounting firm. The timeframe for completing the audit is 10 weeks, and auditors will review spending for 2023 and 2024.

Cost-cutting Under Way

At the January board meeting representatives from the transit and food services departments made budget presentations for 2025 that promised either net profits or no deficits for 2025. Jon Escobar, food services director, told the commissioners that this year’s contracts would have an “act of God” clause that would allow for price adjustments in the event of changing market conditions. “We’ve never had this in before,” he told the board.

Any revenue decreases will be reported on a monthly basis to the Finance Committee and will spark a corresponding drop in expenditures, Angus told the board.

“If revenues drop, you have to cut expenses, it’s that simple,” he said.

Angus, who had served as CEO until 2019, was rehired as interim CEO after the board voted not to renew the contract of then-CEO Emilia Reyes.

Since then, the agency has undertaken a number of cost-cutting moves, such as laying off staffers. The layoffs include Michelle Tutunjian, the chief operating officer who was named acting CEO late last year when the commission put Reyes on leave, and chief of staff Karina Perez.

The board meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will be held in Suite 310 at 1920 Mariposa St. in downtown Fresno.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Vang Appears to Have Won Special Fresno Council Election Outright

DON'T MISS

Previously Classified Files Related to JFK Assassination Released

DON'T MISS

Hollywood Filmmaker Charged with Defrauding Netflix in $11M Scheme

DON'T MISS

Fresno EOC Board OKs Audit of Agency’s Troubled Finances

DON'T MISS

Two Men Found Guilty in Deadly San Antonio Immigrant Smuggling Case

DON'T MISS

NASA Astronauts Return to Earth After 9 Months Stuck in Space

DON'T MISS

Fresno Woman Killed in Hit-and-Run Crash Identified

DON'T MISS

Tesla Short Sellers Cash In $16 Billion as Stock Plummets

DON'T MISS

Tesla Vehicles Defaced in Overnight Attack at California Dealership

DON'T MISS

Trump and Putin Agree to an Immediate Ceasefire for Energy and Infrastructure

UP NEXT

Previously Classified Files Related to JFK Assassination Released

UP NEXT

Hollywood Filmmaker Charged with Defrauding Netflix in $11M Scheme

UP NEXT

Fresno EOC Board OKs Audit of Agency’s Troubled Finances

UP NEXT

Two Men Found Guilty in Deadly San Antonio Immigrant Smuggling Case

UP NEXT

NASA Astronauts Return to Earth After 9 Months Stuck in Space

UP NEXT

Fresno Woman Killed in Hit-and-Run Crash Identified

UP NEXT

Tesla Short Sellers Cash In $16 Billion as Stock Plummets

UP NEXT

Tesla Vehicles Defaced in Overnight Attack at California Dealership

UP NEXT

Trump and Putin Agree to an Immediate Ceasefire for Energy and Infrastructure

UP NEXT

Protests Planned All Over California to Oppose Medicaid, SNAP Funding Cuts

Nancy Price,
Multimedia Journalist
Nancy Price is a multimedia journalist for GV Wire. A longtime reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois and Kansas, Nancy joined GV Wire in July 2019. She previously worked as an assistant metro editor for 13 years at The Fresno Bee. Nancy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her hobbies include singing with the Fresno Master Chorale and volunteering with Fresno Filmworks. You can reach Nancy at 559-492-4087 or Send an Email

Fresno EOC Board OKs Audit of Agency’s Troubled Finances

7 hours ago

Two Men Found Guilty in Deadly San Antonio Immigrant Smuggling Case

7 hours ago

NASA Astronauts Return to Earth After 9 Months Stuck in Space

7 hours ago

Fresno Woman Killed in Hit-and-Run Crash Identified

7 hours ago

Tesla Short Sellers Cash In $16 Billion as Stock Plummets

7 hours ago

Tesla Vehicles Defaced in Overnight Attack at California Dealership

8 hours ago

Trump and Putin Agree to an Immediate Ceasefire for Energy and Infrastructure

9 hours ago

Protests Planned All Over California to Oppose Medicaid, SNAP Funding Cuts

9 hours ago

Newsom Tries ‘Burner Phone’ Strategy to Connect with Tech CEOs

10 hours ago

Jesse Colin Young, Singer Who Urged Us to ‘Get Together,’ Dies at 83

10 hours ago

Vang Appears to Have Won Special Fresno Council Election Outright

With fewer than 700 ballots left uncounted, it appears Sanger Unified Trustee Brandon Vang won the special election for the southeast Fresno...

2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Vang Appears to Have Won Special Fresno Council Election Outright

Newly-elected President Kennedy posed for first pictures at his White House desk, Jan. 21, 1961, before plunging into a busy round of conferences. (AP File)
6 hours ago

Previously Classified Files Related to JFK Assassination Released

7 hours ago

Hollywood Filmmaker Charged with Defrauding Netflix in $11M Scheme

7 hours ago

Fresno EOC Board OKs Audit of Agency’s Troubled Finances

7 hours ago

Two Men Found Guilty in Deadly San Antonio Immigrant Smuggling Case

7 hours ago

NASA Astronauts Return to Earth After 9 Months Stuck in Space

fresno
7 hours ago

Fresno Woman Killed in Hit-and-Run Crash Identified

7 hours ago

Tesla Short Sellers Cash In $16 Billion as Stock Plummets

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend