To the Editor
Chapel Hill News

Susan Armstrong, APS President and former Interim Executive 
Director, has responded to the News' article on financial 
mismanagement at APS.  Her statements are inaccurate and 
misleading.  Armstrong says "we've been spending our reserves to 
build a fantastic new adoption center, hire staff and further our 
programs.  This was always the plan. Our ability to raise 
hundreds of thousands of dollars to build our new adoption center 
was a tribute to the community".  Actually the original plan 
under Pat Sanford was a half-way house with a kennel to support 
its operation.  In the fall of 2000 APS restricted $396,000 from 
cash on hand and began construction in 2001 when APS had $610,625 
in liquid assets.  A change in plans evidently wasted $72,188, 
shown on their 2001-2 tax return as "construction in progress".  

APS's current shelter, built in 2005, is deficient in design and 
was completely mortgaged when built, with $608,680 owed as of 
June 30, 2005.  By then APS had liquid assets of only $130,474.  
A year later this had become a deficit of $174,834 and is 
undoubtedly much larger now.

Armstrong says "Yes, we are a struggling nonprofit organization. 
We operate on a limited budget with mostly part-time staff". Only 
a week earlier the News says she "denied that APS was 
struggling."  Furthermore, The 2005-6 APS tax return shows 
salaries and benefits of $397,580, rather large for this supposed 
part-time staff.  Armstrong told the News that "she did not know 
what APS's assets are" but even the Interim Executive Director 
"didn't have any specific numbers or budget information".  In 
fact, there has been no budget since Laura Walters took over in 
2002.  It is apparent that APS built a shelter for over $600,000  
without having had a budget for several years and with no idea 
where operating costs would come from.

A CPA consulted by the News said "you're losing money, what do 
you plan to do to turn it around? Do you just plan on running 
into the dirt?"  This is precisely what the APS Board has been 
doing since 2002, losing about $250,000 a year.  The County will 
have a new and larger shelter in early 2009.  There will then be 
little need for APS's animal adoption facilities.  The best plan 
for APS is to cease operations and turn its assets over to 
another nonprofit such as the Piedmont Wildlife Center where the 
original vision of APS benefactor Felicite Latane can be 
realized.

Further information may be found on www.ourpaws.info.