Audit 316496

Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Treasury Federal Program Name: Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Assistance Listing Number: 21.027 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: SLFRP1643 - 2021 Award Period: March 3, 2021 through December 31, 2024 Type of Finding: • Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance • Other Matters Criteria or Specific Requirement: Due to the amount of the noted contract being $28,424, the County should have followed the small purchases method of procurement for the related procurement. If small purchase procedures are used, price or rate quotations must be obtained from an adequate number of qualified sources as determined appropriate by the County. Condition: Formal documentation and quotes were not retained for a professional services contract. Questioned Costs: $28,424 Context: 1 of 8 procurements tested did not retain formal documentation of price or rate quotations from an adequate number of qualified sources. Cause: The County did not have an open competition for this service due to using Local Fiscal Recovery Fund on an annually recurring expense with the same vendor that was not known to have needed additional quotes when the department charged the contract expenditures to Local Fiscal Recovery Fund. Effect: Lack of formal procedure and controls and proper documentation of those controls related to procurement could result in the County entering into a contract with an entity at an unreasonable cost, and, therefore, incurring questioned costs. Repeat Finding: Yes – 2022-001 Recommendation: We recommend that County management ensure all departments are made aware of and trained to properly follow and document the County’s procurement procedures and controls, as they apply to federally funded contracts, to ensure the County retained documentation of price or rate quotations obtained for all procurements entered into using the small purchase procurement method. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.

Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Treasury Federal Program Name: Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Assistance Listing Number: 21.027 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: SLFRP1643 - 2021 Award Period: March 3, 2021 through December 31, 2024 Type of Finding: • Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance Criteria or Specific Requirement: 2 CRF §200.430 (i) states that charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated. Condition: It was noted that the sheriff office accountant and officer in-charge of pulling the overtime reports and tracking this used average wages for all jail employees multiplied by specific overtime time codes to calculate the amount to be charged to the grant instead of trying to calculate the actual hours for the specific over-time codes times the actual rates for each individual employee. Also, originally, they just used this average base rate, but later realized the actual wages at time and a half for overtime were paid to the employees, so the average rate should have been 150% the average rate using their chosen method. Therefore, the County undercharged and under reported their jail overtime costs that were incurred due to COVID-19, but this was partially offset by some sheriff timekeeping software reporting issues that were doubling up the time for a few employees that used multiple overtime system codes on their timesheets. The issues with the hours and rates originally used were caught by the County after the fact in February of 2023, but, as the grant was undercharged, the County took no further action. The undercharging and under reporting from the above issue was also partially offset for differences reported because the pay of one individual was used to charge the time of another individual to the program for all of Quarter 3 of 2023. As controls did not originally catch the over statement of hours used and understatement of rates and there being a risk that the grant could have been overcharges. But there were no questioned costs, as the County actually could have charged more to the grant for these payroll costs. Questioned Costs: None Context: 3 of the 40 payroll disbursements selected for testing has the noted exceptions. Cause: The hours used were overstated due to a software issue. The pay rate used was too low due this being for overtime charged at 150% of the staff's base hourly rate, but the County accidentally just used the base hourly rate. The pay of one individual was used to charge the time of another individual to the program for all of Quarter 3, at a rate of 50%. Effect: Lack of proper procedures and controls related to payroll charged to the grant could result in inappropriate or inaccurate payroll expenditures being charged to the grant. Repeat Finding: Yes – 2022-003 Recommendation: We recommend that County management reviews the controls around payroll journal entries that are reclassifying payroll to federal grants to ensure the payroll that is being reclassified is supported and accurate and that such review continues to be formally documented. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.

Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Treasury Federal Program Name: Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Assistance Listing Number: 21.027 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: SLFRP1643 - 2021 Award Period: March 3, 2021 through December 31, 2024 Type of Finding: • Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance • Other Matters Criteria or Specific Requirement: Due to the amount of the noted contract being $28,424, the County should have followed the small purchases method of procurement for the related procurement. If small purchase procedures are used, price or rate quotations must be obtained from an adequate number of qualified sources as determined appropriate by the County. Condition: Formal documentation and quotes were not retained for a professional services contract. Questioned Costs: $28,424 Context: 1 of 8 procurements tested did not retain formal documentation of price or rate quotations from an adequate number of qualified sources. Cause: The County did not have an open competition for this service due to using Local Fiscal Recovery Fund on an annually recurring expense with the same vendor that was not known to have needed additional quotes when the department charged the contract expenditures to Local Fiscal Recovery Fund. Effect: Lack of formal procedure and controls and proper documentation of those controls related to procurement could result in the County entering into a contract with an entity at an unreasonable cost, and, therefore, incurring questioned costs. Repeat Finding: Yes – 2022-001 Recommendation: We recommend that County management ensure all departments are made aware of and trained to properly follow and document the County’s procurement procedures and controls, as they apply to federally funded contracts, to ensure the County retained documentation of price or rate quotations obtained for all procurements entered into using the small purchase procurement method. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.

Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Treasury Federal Program Name: Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Assistance Listing Number: 21.027 Federal Award Identification Number and Year: SLFRP1643 - 2021 Award Period: March 3, 2021 through December 31, 2024 Type of Finding: • Material Weakness in Internal Control over Compliance Criteria or Specific Requirement: 2 CRF §200.430 (i) states that charges to federal awards for salaries and wages must be based on records that accurately reflect the work performed. These records must be supported by a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that the charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated. Condition: It was noted that the sheriff office accountant and officer in-charge of pulling the overtime reports and tracking this used average wages for all jail employees multiplied by specific overtime time codes to calculate the amount to be charged to the grant instead of trying to calculate the actual hours for the specific over-time codes times the actual rates for each individual employee. Also, originally, they just used this average base rate, but later realized the actual wages at time and a half for overtime were paid to the employees, so the average rate should have been 150% the average rate using their chosen method. Therefore, the County undercharged and under reported their jail overtime costs that were incurred due to COVID-19, but this was partially offset by some sheriff timekeeping software reporting issues that were doubling up the time for a few employees that used multiple overtime system codes on their timesheets. The issues with the hours and rates originally used were caught by the County after the fact in February of 2023, but, as the grant was undercharged, the County took no further action. The undercharging and under reporting from the above issue was also partially offset for differences reported because the pay of one individual was used to charge the time of another individual to the program for all of Quarter 3 of 2023. As controls did not originally catch the over statement of hours used and understatement of rates and there being a risk that the grant could have been overcharges. But there were no questioned costs, as the County actually could have charged more to the grant for these payroll costs. Questioned Costs: None Context: 3 of the 40 payroll disbursements selected for testing has the noted exceptions. Cause: The hours used were overstated due to a software issue. The pay rate used was too low due this being for overtime charged at 150% of the staff's base hourly rate, but the County accidentally just used the base hourly rate. The pay of one individual was used to charge the time of another individual to the program for all of Quarter 3, at a rate of 50%. Effect: Lack of proper procedures and controls related to payroll charged to the grant could result in inappropriate or inaccurate payroll expenditures being charged to the grant. Repeat Finding: Yes – 2022-003 Recommendation: We recommend that County management reviews the controls around payroll journal entries that are reclassifying payroll to federal grants to ensure the payroll that is being reclassified is supported and accurate and that such review continues to be formally documented. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.