BATON ROUGE — BREC is asking voters to pass a tax renewal that will provide about 60 percent of its funding for the next 20 years, but commissioner and treasurer Dwayne Rogers has concerns about the state of the park system he helps oversee.

"I would have concerns about entrusting additional dollars to them and I'm the treasurer," he said. 

Rogers says there are major problems with BREC's finances.

"From [my] standpoint, the superintendent has not properly managed our finance department so that it can be ready for timely audits."

BREC is two years behind on its audits. It only recently completed the one for 2021, which revealed nearly $70,000 was stolen by former employees.

According to superintendent Corey Wilson, a draft of the 2022 audit has been done, and 2023 will soon follow. However, nothing has been submitted to the auditors office. Wilson acknowledged those issues in an interview with WBRZ last month.

"We are excited about where we are now from a financial standpoint. We recently hired a very qualified CFO who is leading the charge there," Wilson said. 

Rogers says as treasurer, he's trying to get a handle on BREC's finances, but it hasn't been easy. 

"I began to start asking questions and start trying to get information on our finances, and started receiving resistance almost immediately," Rogers said. "The superintendent has not granted me full access to all of the financial records of BREC, which makes no sense at all. I'm the treasurer of BREC, but can't I see the actual records so that I can verify what's being printed or what's being told to me."

BREC did not respond to questions concerning financial records being kept from Rogers.