"They were actually using outdated and incomplete cost data to come up with these operating costs for these parks because they don't track or budget at that level," says Margarita Fernandez with the State Auditor's Office.
"So that made it even more difficult to measure what the impact of these decisions were going to be."
Instead, operating costs were estimated based on geographic regions using 10-year-old figures.
Fernandez says the State Auditor plans to release another report later this year that examines staffing issues and vacation buyouts in the Parks Department.