We audited costs claimed by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department (VFWD) under grants awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program. The audit included claims totaling approximately $25.4 million on 42 grants that were open during the State fiscal years that ended June 30, 2016, and June 30, 2017. The audit also covered the VFWD’s compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and FWS guidelines, including those related to the collection and use of hunting and fishing license revenues and the reporting of program income.We found that the VFWD complied, in general, with applicable grant accounting and regulatory requirements, but it did not have policies or procedures in place for allocating the compensatory time its employees earned when their working hours were split among projects that included Federal grant funds. Because of this, the VFWD may have incurred payroll costs that did not represent the actual number of hours employees worked on program grants.We made one recommendation to address the lack of policy. The FWS concurred with our recommendation and stated that it would work with the VFWD to develop a corrective action plan. We consider the recommendation resolved but not yet implemented.0
VT
United States
