State & Local Reports

The State of Delaware is missing out on millions in tax revenue by not taxing and regulating marijuana – money that could be used to plug budget holes in the immediate term and continue to provide revenue in future years. Marijuana legalization saw the light of day in the Legislature over the years, but this year public opinion stands at an all-time high. With nearby states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia on the cusp of legalization and implementation, Delaware should apply the same consideration. Inaction doesn’t reward us withcurbed usage but will prevent us from realizing economic benefits and the $43 million that could be available if Delaware were to devise a responsible regulatory framework. It's time to legalize it.

This letter report provides an update on our assessment of the State’s management of federal funds related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a high risk statewide issue

Why This Release? 29 Del. C. § 5823 tasks the Office of the Auditor of Accounts (AOA) with conducting an annual audit of time records to determine whether dually employed individuals were paid from more than one tax-funded source for working coincident hours of the day.The State has not had procedures to monitor or identify dually employed individuals and has not maintained time records for elected or appointed officials. This renders us unable to identify a complete population of dually employed individuals for testing and unable to test for the proper treatment of dual employment hours. Without the above information, we are unable to determine if the State was in compliance with the Dual Employment law. Despite repeated findings, advice letters from the Office of the Attorney General, and advisory publications by the State Public Integrity Commission, these difficulties still exist.Since the State has not implemented any changes to address our prior findings, we are unable to perform this mandated engagement.

What Was Performed? A financial statement audit of the State of Delaware 403(b) Plan for Calendar year 2019 was performedWhy This Engagement? The 403(b) plan is a voluntary plan that allows education employees to defer a portion of their paycheck to a retirement plan. This benefit is offered to help bridge the retirement income gap and lower participants’ current taxes. The Plan is intended to satisfy the requirement of Section 403(b) of Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended.This engagement was performed in accordance with 29 Del. C. §2906 and §6058.What Was Found? This report has a disclaimed opinion. 1Why is the audit opinion disclaimed? The Department of Labor permits the exclusion of investment vendors which were previously approved but discontinued prior to 2009. Since the financial statements permissibly exclude significant dollars for more than one hundred of these discontinued vendors, the auditors cannot opine that the financial statements are complete and accurate in all material respects. Disclaimed audit opinions are standard in these cases.

This report concludes that the five courts we reviewed for this audit—the superior courts in Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Orange, and San Bernardino counties—adhered to most of the required and recommended procurement and contracting practices that we evaluated, but they could improve in certain areas.

The Suffolk DA's office provides services to keep young people out of the criminal justice system and supports to victims and witness of crimes. Our audit, which examined July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2019, shows the Suffolk DA’s office is effectively administering these important services.

This audit found that the District’s meal sponsors moved quickly to open Grab & Go meal sites in areas of greatest need, but that their efforts could have been supported better by stronger coordination mandated by District leadership. Specifically, we found that 96% of at-risk students had access to at least one meal site located in their home neighborhood cluster in the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic—later growing to 99% by June—but some neighborhoods with many at-risk students could have had better access to meals sooner.