Audit 299018

FY End
2023-06-30
Total Expended
$148.15M
Findings
2
Programs
69
Organization: Knox County Government (TN)
Year: 2023 Accepted: 2024-03-28

Organization Exclusion Status:

Checking exclusion status...

Findings

ID Ref Severity Repeat Requirement
386722 2023-007 - Yes B
963164 2023-007 - Yes B

Programs

ALN Program Spent Major Findings
21.023 Emergency Rental Assistance Program $21.28M Yes 0
10.553 School Breakfast Program $4.55M Yes 0
84.367 Improving Teacher Quality State Grants $1.89M - 0
84.027 Special Education_grants to States $1.38M - 0
84.424 Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program $1.09M - 0
84.048 Career and Technical Education -- Basic Grants to States $981,838 - 0
93.870 Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant $651,834 - 0
93.917 Hiv Care Formula Grants $629,718 - 0
84.365 English Language Acquisition State Grants $536,619 - 0
93.217 Family Planning_services $530,987 - 0
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $470,000 Yes 0
84.411 Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund $461,099 - 0
14.218 Community Development Block Grants/entitlement Grants $407,437 Yes 0
14.228 Community Development Block Grants/state's Program and Non-Entitlement Grants in Hawaii $400,000 - 0
10.582 Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program $392,438 Yes 0
84.425 Education Stabilization Fund $342,612 Yes 0
84.287 Twenty-First Century Community Learning Centers $308,834 - 0
93.563 Child Support Enforcement $300,677 - 0
16.710 Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Grants $244,142 - 0
93.977 Preventive Health Services_sexually Transmitted Diseases Control Grants $183,393 - 0
93.268 Immunization Cooperative Agreements $157,112 - 0
93.994 Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant to the States $156,813 - 0
93.421 Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services Through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation’s Health $145,998 - 0
66.001 Air Pollution Control Program Support $136,550 - 0
10.555 National School Lunch Program $133,570 Yes 0
16.836 Indigent Defense $132,243 - 0
93.898 Cancer Prevention and Control Programs for State, Territorial and Tribal Organizations $131,404 - 0
10.558 Child and Adult Care Food Program $130,264 - 0
93.116 Project Grants and Cooperative Agreements for Tuberculosis Control Programs $106,552 - 0
84.126 Rehabilitation Services_vocational Rehabilitation Grants to States $102,876 - 0
97.067 Homeland Security Grant Program $100,906 - 0
93.426 Improving the Health of Americans Through Prevention and Management of Diabetes and Heart Disease and Stroke $97,127 - 0
10.557 Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children $96,067 - 0
93.991 Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant $94,500 - 0
84.371 Striving Readers $81,423 - 0
16.738 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program $77,284 - 0
16.838 Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-Based Program $72,938 - 0
20.607 Alcohol Open Container Requirements $70,975 - 0
93.074 Hospital Preparedness Program (hpp) and Public Health Emergency Preparedness (phep) Aligned Cooperative Agreements $70,100 - 0
66.034 Surveys, Studies, Research, Investigations, Demonstrations, and Special Purpose Activities Relating to the Clean Air Act $64,481 - 0
16.575 Crime Victim Assistance $63,946 - 0
16.922 Equitable Sharing Program $63,517 - 0
93.354 Public Health Emergency Response: Cooperative Agreement for Emergency Response: Public Health Crisis Response $60,716 - 0
93.387 National and State Tobacco Control Program (b) $59,203 - 0
93.575 Child Care and Development Block Grant $55,690 - 0
66.460 Nonpoint Source Implementation Grants $52,860 - 0
93.136 Injury Prevention and Control Research and State and Community Based Programs $36,154 - 0
20.205 Highway Planning and Construction $35,150 - 0
95.001 High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program $34,664 - 0
97.036 Disaster Grants - Public Assistance (presidentially Declared Disasters) $22,500 - 0
93.323 Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases (elc) $18,717 - 0
93.940 Hiv Prevention Activities_health Department Based $18,426 - 0
45.310 Grants to States $17,839 - 0
81.214 Environmental Monitoring/cleanup, Cultural and Resource Mgmt., Emergency Response Research, Outreach, Technical Analysis $15,951 - 0
84.196 Education for Homeless Children and Youth $13,222 - 0
20.703 Interagency Hazardous Materials Public Sector Training and Planning Grants $12,305 - 0
16.607 Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program $11,134 - 0
45.024 Promotion of the Arts_grants to Organizations and Individuals $10,000 - 0
47.076 Education and Human Resources $8,178 - 0
10.649 Pandemic Ebt Administrative Costs $5,950 - 0
84.051 Career and Technical Education -- National Programs $5,695 - 0
84.173 Special Education_preschool Grants $5,334 - 0
16.582 Crime Victim Assistance/discretionary Grants $4,553 - 0
16.606 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program $4,439 - 0
45.025 Promotion of the Arts_partnership Agreements $4,378 - 0
93.946 Cooperative Agreements to Support State-Based Safe Motherhood and Infant Health Initiative Programs $3,237 - 0
16.302 Law Enforcement Assistance_fbi Field Police Training $1,680 - 0
84.010 Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies $1,486 - 0
14.239 Home Investment Partnerships Program $1,405 - 0

Contacts

Name Title Type
HLNTP7H1UCM7 Chris Caldwell Auditee
8652154754 Ted Hotz Auditor
No contacts on file

Notes to SEFA

Title: Note 3- Loans Outstanding Accounting Policies: Note 1 - BASIS OF PRESENTATION The accompanying schedules of expenditures of federal awards and of state financial assistance (the “Schedules”) include the federal award and state grant activity of Knox County, Tennessee (the “County”), and its discretely presented component unit, Knox County Board of Education, (the “Board”), for the year ended June 30, 2023. The information in these Schedules is presented in accordance with the requirements of Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) and the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. Because the Schedules present only a selected portion of the operations of Knox County, Tennessee, they are not intended to and do not present the financial position, changes in net position, or cash flows of Knox County, Tennessee. Note 2- SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES Expenditures reported in the Schedules are reported on the modified-accrual basis of accounting. Such expenditures are recognized following the cost principles contained in the Uniform Guidance, wherein certain types of expenditures are not allowable or are limited as to reimbursement. Negative amounts shown in the Schedules represent adjustments or credits made in the normal course of business to amounts reported as expenditures in the prior years. De Minimis Rate Used: N Rate Explanation: Note 6 - INDIRECT COSTS. A number of the County's and Board’s federal and state funded programs allow indirect costs to be charged and include them as a line item in the grant budget. However, if the grant budget does not specifically provide for indirect costs to be charged, none of the indirect costs are reported as costs to the grantor nor are the costs included or presented in the schedules of expenditures of federal awards and of state financial assistance. The County and Board have elected not to use the ten percent de minimis indirect rate as allowed under the Uniform Guidance. The County had the following loan funding balances outstanding at June 30, 2023. All of the loan additions are represented by program expenditures, but only a portion comes from the federal grant with the remainder from program income: Cluster/Program Title, AL Number, FY2023 Loan Funding, Outstanding Balance; Community Development Block Grant, 14.218, $204,269; HOME Investment Partnerships Program, 14.239, $426,666
Title: Note 4- Subrecipients Accounting Policies: Note 1 - BASIS OF PRESENTATION The accompanying schedules of expenditures of federal awards and of state financial assistance (the “Schedules”) include the federal award and state grant activity of Knox County, Tennessee (the “County”), and its discretely presented component unit, Knox County Board of Education, (the “Board”), for the year ended June 30, 2023. The information in these Schedules is presented in accordance with the requirements of Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) and the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. Because the Schedules present only a selected portion of the operations of Knox County, Tennessee, they are not intended to and do not present the financial position, changes in net position, or cash flows of Knox County, Tennessee. Note 2- SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES Expenditures reported in the Schedules are reported on the modified-accrual basis of accounting. Such expenditures are recognized following the cost principles contained in the Uniform Guidance, wherein certain types of expenditures are not allowable or are limited as to reimbursement. Negative amounts shown in the Schedules represent adjustments or credits made in the normal course of business to amounts reported as expenditures in the prior years. De Minimis Rate Used: N Rate Explanation: Note 6 - INDIRECT COSTS. A number of the County's and Board’s federal and state funded programs allow indirect costs to be charged and include them as a line item in the grant budget. However, if the grant budget does not specifically provide for indirect costs to be charged, none of the indirect costs are reported as costs to the grantor nor are the costs included or presented in the schedules of expenditures of federal awards and of state financial assistance. The County and Board have elected not to use the ten percent de minimis indirect rate as allowed under the Uniform Guidance. Regarding expenditures presented in the schedule of expenditures of federal awards, the County provided federal awards to subrecipients as follows: Cluster/Program Title, AL Number, Amounts Provided to Subrecipients; Community Development Block Grant, 14.218, $1,063,321; Coronavirus Satte and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, 21.027, $7,816,837. Total Subrecipient Awards, $8,880,158.
Title: Note 5- Non-cash Assistance Accounting Policies: Note 1 - BASIS OF PRESENTATION The accompanying schedules of expenditures of federal awards and of state financial assistance (the “Schedules”) include the federal award and state grant activity of Knox County, Tennessee (the “County”), and its discretely presented component unit, Knox County Board of Education, (the “Board”), for the year ended June 30, 2023. The information in these Schedules is presented in accordance with the requirements of Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) and the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury. Because the Schedules present only a selected portion of the operations of Knox County, Tennessee, they are not intended to and do not present the financial position, changes in net position, or cash flows of Knox County, Tennessee. Note 2- SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES Expenditures reported in the Schedules are reported on the modified-accrual basis of accounting. Such expenditures are recognized following the cost principles contained in the Uniform Guidance, wherein certain types of expenditures are not allowable or are limited as to reimbursement. Negative amounts shown in the Schedules represent adjustments or credits made in the normal course of business to amounts reported as expenditures in the prior years. De Minimis Rate Used: N Rate Explanation: Note 6 - INDIRECT COSTS. A number of the County's and Board’s federal and state funded programs allow indirect costs to be charged and include them as a line item in the grant budget. However, if the grant budget does not specifically provide for indirect costs to be charged, none of the indirect costs are reported as costs to the grantor nor are the costs included or presented in the schedules of expenditures of federal awards and of state financial assistance. The County and Board have elected not to use the ten percent de minimis indirect rate as allowed under the Uniform Guidance. The Board is the recipient of certain federal awards that do not result in cash receipts or disbursements, including distributions of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Commodities, which are valued based on a USDA price list obtained from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

Finding Details

2023-007 Emergency Rental Assistance Payments Based on Fraudulent Applications Submitted to the Program Program(s): Emergency Rental Assistance Program (AL# 21.023) Criteria or Specific Requirement - Uniform Guidance requires that program expenditures be allowable based on program legislation, federal awarding agency regulations, and/or the terms and conditions of the award. Condition and Context - During the course of our audit, program management made us aware that payments were issued from the Emergency Rental Assistance Program to internal personnel who created and approved fraudulent applications to the program. This situation was discovered by the Community Development Office through a review of end of period reports. Cause and Effect - Internal personnel colluded together to create and approve fraudulent applications to the program. These payments were set up to be paid directly to the internal personnel themselves or those related to them. Questioned Costs and Prevalence - An investigation is currently ongoing, but management believes that fraudulent disbursements to be approximately $154,500. Management has not identified any additional fraudulent payments related to this issue. Recommendations - We recommend that management establish a process to identify payments which contain known information of internal personnel to determine eligibility prior to issuing future payments. Management’s Response - We concur with the recommendations and have implemented a process to identify any payment requests connected to internal personnel and escalate these requests for director approval prior to payment being issued.
2023-007 Emergency Rental Assistance Payments Based on Fraudulent Applications Submitted to the Program Program(s): Emergency Rental Assistance Program (AL# 21.023) Criteria or Specific Requirement - Uniform Guidance requires that program expenditures be allowable based on program legislation, federal awarding agency regulations, and/or the terms and conditions of the award. Condition and Context - During the course of our audit, program management made us aware that payments were issued from the Emergency Rental Assistance Program to internal personnel who created and approved fraudulent applications to the program. This situation was discovered by the Community Development Office through a review of end of period reports. Cause and Effect - Internal personnel colluded together to create and approve fraudulent applications to the program. These payments were set up to be paid directly to the internal personnel themselves or those related to them. Questioned Costs and Prevalence - An investigation is currently ongoing, but management believes that fraudulent disbursements to be approximately $154,500. Management has not identified any additional fraudulent payments related to this issue. Recommendations - We recommend that management establish a process to identify payments which contain known information of internal personnel to determine eligibility prior to issuing future payments. Management’s Response - We concur with the recommendations and have implemented a process to identify any payment requests connected to internal personnel and escalate these requests for director approval prior to payment being issued.