This week a report by the Center for Public Accountability identifies $22 million in extra costs that have been or will be incurred, apparently to benefit insiders, at the non-profit Tarzana Treatment Center, which receives 85% of its $45-million annual budget from government sources.

Tarzana's clients have been featured on CNN, MSNBC and other major media as success stories in outpatient treatment for substance abuse. Executives have spoken as advocates for people struggling with drug abuse even while they enriched themselves at their clients' expense.

Excessive salaries and rental agreements for the center's executives were previously reported by the Los Angeles Times. This report provides new details about how money flowed over the past decade to executives -- in possible violation of California laws that prohibit publicly-funded nonprofits from paying excessive rents for buildings owned by members of their own boards.

In a video posted at the Tarzana Treatment Center website, the clinic's Chief Operating Officer, Al Senella, tells CNN that counties "limited the amount of money they put into residential care because the dollar was not large enough to cover all of the needs." Yet the estimated $22 million in excess costs would have funded 177 years of residential detoxification treatment for the center's clients.

Read the report on our website.

Accountable California will feature investigative reports and original commentary, and other resources:

• Contract Watch: Online posting of millions of dollars of contracts issued by city and county governments for services. Readers can review and comment on the contracts before our money goes to expensive contracts

• Improving Efficiency: Reports on how governments and publicly funded businesses can be more cost-effective

• Resources for whistleblowers