State & Local Reports

An audit was conducted to provide a comprehensive examination of Cuyahoga County Animal Shelter (CCAS). We conducted our review through inquiry and testing of receipts during the audit period. DIA also evaluated processes for compliance with existing policies, contractual agreements, and applicable legal statutes.  The audit included review and evaluation of procedures, practices and controls as deemed necessary.

The Department of Internal Auditing (DIA) has conducted an audit of Criminal Justice Information Sharing (CJIS) for the period January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023. Our main objectives were:

• To assess the effectiveness and adequacy of policy, procedures, and controls in mitigating the risk for the CJIS subscriber services.

• Evaluate compliance with Homeland Security related policies.

• Assess the adequacy, completeness, and accuracy of the subscriber fee or court revenue process.

To accomplish our objectives DIA:

• Met with management of Public Safety and Justice Services (PSJS)-Fiscal and the Sheriff’s Office.

• Documented their processes and identified the related controls.

• Reviewed existing contracts for CJIS services to identify relevant contract compliance requirements and for best practices regarding security policies. 

• Reviewed procedures and controls to assess the effectiveness in mitigating the risks associated with revenue remittance.

• Evaluated accounting of CJIS Enterprise Fund.

Our audit procedures disclosed contract non-compliance and internal control weaknesses and/or areas of potential process improvement related to:

• Compliance and monitoring controls on contracted services for the CJIS program.

• Lack of supporting documentation and procedures related to revenue remittance from municipalities

• Lack of policies and procedures

• Stagnant cash balance of the CJIS enterprise fund

• Potential for unallowed payroll expenditures in the CJIS Fund.

The Department of Internal Auditing (DIA) has conducted an audit of public records management for the period January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023. Our main objectives were to:
• Assess the effectiveness and adequacy of policy, procedures, and controls in mitigating the risk of managing the County’s records.
• Evaluate compliance with County record retention policies and related state/federal laws.

To accomplish our objectives DIA:
• Met with management of County Archives and Microfilm departments.
• Documented their processes and identified the related controls.
• Reviewed policies within the County Code and federal laws and Ohio Revised Code (ORC) to identify relevant compliance requirements.
• Reviewed Microfilm and Archives procedures and controls to assess the effectiveness in mitigating risks of managing County records and legal compliance.

This included a review of all approved record retention schedules for requirements related to retainage of records. DIA also compared certain processes performed by Archives and Microfilm to industry best practices.

Our audit procedures disclosed non-compliance and internal control weaknesses and/or areas of potential process improvement related to:
• Non-compliance with the County Code and/or ORC
• Lack of policies and procedures
• Lack of controls or best practices for certain processes related to Archives and Microfilm.

The Department of Internal Auditing (DIA) has conducted an audit of the Housing and CommunityDevelopment (HCD) and the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA) for the period January1, 2023 – December 31, 2023. Our main objectives were to assess progress on any action plansdeveloped in response to findings and recommendations by federal and state audits and assessthe effectiveness and adequacy of policy, procedures, and controls in mitigating the risk of fraud,waste, and abuse for the ERA Program. To accomplish the first objective, we identified relevant audit reports by consulting with HCD andsearching federal and state agency websites. Additionally, we conducted substantive testing byreviewing the action plans and requesting support documentation to verify that the audit findingswere addressed adequately through timely corrective action. For the second objective, weresearched ERA program requirements, federal Uniform Guidance, and grant management bestpractices. DIA also conducted interviews, requested documentation, and performed sufficienttesting to assess the adequacy of HCD’s policies, procedures, and controls relative to mitigatingfraud, waste, and abuse. Additionally, DIA determined it necessary to expand the scope of theaudit to include additional, but limited, testing of provider payments to ensure rates paidcomplied with terms of applicable contracts. This additional testing included payments made bydepartments such as Department of Development (DOD), Juvenile Court, and Department ofPublic Safety & Justice Services. Our audit procedures disclosed internal control weaknesses related to corrective action on auditfindings, departmental policies and procedures including subrecipient monitoring and reportingaccuracy, advanced funds monitoring and reconciliations, and compliance with billing terms incontracts. This report provides the details of our findings. We are confident corrective action hasbeen or will be taken to mitigate the risks identified in this audit report. DIA provided HCD management with recommendations for improvinginternal controls. Additionally, DIA provided recommendations to theDoD, County Department of Purchasing (DoP), and County Fiscal Office.Based on management responses, we believe corrective action will betaken to mitigate the risks identified. Management responses follow eachrecommendation in the report. DIA recommended implementing thefollowing to HCD:  Implement a robust subrecipient monitoring program that will ensureERA program compliance and effectively mitigate the risks of fraud, waste,and abuse.  Establish a control that ensures the accuracy of invoices, adherence tocontract terms and billable rates, and detects overpayments. HCD andDoD should obtain refunds or credits as appropriate for theoverpayments totaling $173,139 and $10,400, respectively, caused byinconsistencies in billable rates.  Ensure that material changes to contracts, such as rate changes andretroactive application, are supported for their reasonableness andadequately disclosed to the approving authority (Council/Board ofControl).  Implement controls to ensure that subaward reconciliations of advancedfunds are performed timely using standardized forms, reviewed by asupervisor, and accompanied by supporting documentation to facilitatereviews and audits.  Establish controls to ensure ERA reporting compliance: o Ensure the accuracy of reporting and eligible expenditures in ERAreports through a review process that identifies and correctsdiscrepancies. o Submit quarterly ERA reports to the U.S. Treasury by themandated deadlines. o Submit quarterly ERA reports to the County’s Fiscal Office forsecondary review.

An audit was conducted to assess the adequacy, completeness, and accuracy of the Fiscal bank reconciliation process. The bank reconciliation process had been an area of higher risk due to the historic issues associated with the bank reconciliation, including bank reconciliations not being performed timely and having an unreconciled difference between bank and book of approximately $2.2 million.The Department of Internal Audit conducted interviews with management regarding procedures that the Fiscal Office utilizes for bank reconciliations. Internal Audit reviewed the adequacy of procedures relating to the performance and review of bank reconciliations. Internal Audit also assessed the adequacy of spreadsheet controls utilized on the bank reconciliation. A test of transactions was performed to assess the completeness and accuracy of the bank reconciliation. Our audit procedures disclosed internal control weaknesses and/or areas of potential process improvement related to management of accounts payable and payroll checks outstanding for over one year and documented review of consolidated bank reconciliation.

Our investigation showed that the City’s former Finance Director, Robert Mays, and the former Finance Director who succeeded him, Pennie Zuercher, failed to sufficiently scrutinize Lanier’s invoices from April 1, 2019, through June 30, 2022, the period of our review. Neither finance director ensured that Lanier’s reports of revenue it collected on behalf of the City, which totaled $2,942,099.83, were accurate whencompared to Lanier’s deposits into the City’s parking bank account, which totaled $3,056,220.00. In addition, we calculated that the City paid at least $108,093.11 in questionable expenditures when the two former finance directors approved reimbursements to Lanier of $77,589.36 for inadequately documented employee wages and another $30,503.75 for unauthorized expenses.

This quarterly report provides an overview of the operations of the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General from April 1, 2024, through June 30, 2024, and includes information required by the Municipal Code of Chicago.

On April 25, 2024, the Office of Inspector General notified the Mayor’s Office of concerns about the incidence and handling of allegations that members of the Chicago Police Department belong to or associate with extremist and anti-government groups.

Our investigation found that Steven Chapman, a former director of North Lauderdale’s Finance Department (“Finance”), engaged in grossmismanagement for his failure to properly oversee the financial aspect of the City’s contract with Waste Pro (“Waste Pro Contract”), which allowed Waste Pro to overbill the City’s residents, through payments to the City, and its commercial customers a total of approximately $2,589,753.48 from January 2012 through September 2021. Specifically, the OIG estimated that Waste Pro overbilled the City $599,707.68 for residential solid waste services. And the OIG estimated that Waste Pro overbilled commercial customers a total of $1,990,045.80, that is, $1,611,392.17 in overbillings for solid waste services and approximately $378,653.63 for overbillings in franchise fees.

A Washington state employee misappropriated nearly $900,000 through fraudulent credit card purchases, the Office of the Washington State Auditor found in a fraud report released in early July 2024. It is the largest internal misappropriation in a state agency in at least the last 15 years.The report identifies $878,115 in misappropriations between 2019 and 2023 at the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH).