State & Local Reports

Civil asset forfeiture is a legal tool that allows police agencies to seize and forfeit (retain) property believed to be involved in or the proceeds of a crime. While property owners may file a claim to recover it, a performance audit in Washington found police agencies retained up to 90 percent of such property. This totaled nearly $40 million in forfeitures from January 2020 through December 2022. This published report examined eight police agencies to better understand forfeitures in the state, and included recommendations to strengthen transparency and protections for property owners.

A look at how Washington state managed public money in 2023

The Department of Internal Auditing (DIA) conducted an audit of the Lodging Tax Office for the period January 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023. The main objective was to assess the adequacy, completeness, and accuracy of the Lodging tax (a.k.a. Bed Tax) processes from registration to disbursal and usage of funds. This included processes related to monitoring of tax filings, payments, reconciliations, proper disbursement of monies collected, oversight of monies usage after disbursal, and audits of taxpayers. Audit procedures disclosed internal control weaknesses and areas of potential process improvement related to: incomplete or outdated policies and procedures, lack of approval on monthly reconciliations, monitoring to ensure proper taxpayer registration, governance oversight of the use of Bed Tax monies, lack of review of journal entries for the transfer of monies, and increased compliance assurance through increased audit coverage.

This quarterly report provides an overview of the operations of the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General from October 1 – December 31, 2023, and includes information required by the Municipal Code of Chicago.

The Department of Internal Auditing (DIA) has conducted an audit of the grant management process of the Fiscal Office for the period January 1, 2022- December 31, 2022. The main objective was to evaluate the grant management and funding life cycle for the largest grants received and/or awarded including processes and controls in place for grant/funding tracking, reporting, and compliance. After initial meetings with the Fiscal Office and an assessment of current processes, the objective was modified to focus on the Fiscal Office’s procedures relating to grant governance over maintenance, tracking, reporting, and compliance. DIA determined that this focus was the best use of the audit resources allocated as processes for grant management were highly decentralized, and essentially non-existent and/or inconsistent in application.Audit procedures disclosed internal control weaknesses related to: lack of centralized grant management for grants received countywide, lack of policies and procedures for all grant-related processes, lack of assurance that grant data input into the County’s Financial system (Lawson) is accurate, no utilization of the Grant Management module within Lawson, and lack of transparency regarding grant listings related to County Code.

The Department of Internal Auditing (DIA) has conducted an audit of the Sanitary Department processes and procedures relating to revenue and expenditures for the period of January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022. The main objective was to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the Sewer Maintenance Program as it relates to the revenue and expenditure processes of Cuyahoga County Public Works’ Sanitary-Fiscal Department. DIA audited processes relating to accounting for municipal balances, billing for sanitary work performed for municipalities, collection of payments, and reconciliation of revenue. Audit procedures disclosed internal control weaknesses related to: lack of policies and procedures, sewer district noncompliance with the Ohio Revised Code, lack of segregation of duties or timely deposit of funds, shared indirect costs not allocated to Direct Bill communities, improper tracking of revenue and expenses, inadequate support for engineering and inspection expenses, and lack of review for municipal balances.

This special report provides summary information and 3 interactive dashboards with Arizona school districts’ and charter schools’ reported spending through June 30, 2021, and planned spending of allocated/awarded COVID-19 federal relief monies. This special report also provides Arizona Department of Education (ADE)-reported spending through June 30, 2021, and planned future spending of the discretionary COVID-19 federal relief monies that it received, as required by the law. This information is included below the dashboards.