Audit 319623

HQS Enforcement Finding Number: 2022-004 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions, HQS Enforcement/Housing Quality Standards Inspections Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? Yes Prior Audit Finding Number: 2021-005 Noncompliance and Material Weakness 24 CFR § 982.404 provides that the owner must maintain the unit in accordance with HQS. If the owner fails to maintain the dwelling unit in accordance with Housing Quality Standards (HQS), the PHA must take prompt and vigorous action to enforce the owner obligations. PHA remedies for such breach of the HQS include termination, suspension or reduction of housing assistance payments and termination of the HAP contract. The PHA must not make any housing assistance payments for a dwelling unit that fails to meet the HQS, unless the owner corrects the defect within the period specified by the PHA and the PHA verifies the correction. If a defect is life threatening, the owner must correct the defect within no more than 24 hours. For other defects, the owner must correct the defect within no more than 30 calendar days (or any PHA-approved extension). The owner is not responsible for a breach of the HQS that is not caused by the owner, and for which the family is responsible (as provided in § 982.404(b) and § 982.551(c)). However, the PHA may terminate assistance to a family because of HQS breach caused by the family. The Authority did not have HQS re-inspections completed within 30 calendar days for HQS inspection failures for 40 percent of inspection failures tested. Further, the Authority did not formally approve any related extensions. Failure to complete timely re-inspections or approve extensions could result in dwellings not maintained in accordance with HQS. The Authority should complete re-inspections within the required time frame or approve extensions.

Reporting Finding Number: 2022-005 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Reporting Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance and Material Weakness 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 CFR § 200.328 which provides that, unless otherwise approved by OMB, the Federal awarding agency must solicit only the OMB-approved governmentwide data elements for collection of financial information at time of publication the Federal Financial Report or such future, OMB-approved, governmentwide data elements available from the OMB-designated standards lead. This information must be collected with the frequency required by the terms and conditions of the Federal award, but no less frequently than annually nor more frequently than quarterly except in unusual circumstances, for example where more frequent reporting is necessary for the effective monitoring of the Federal award or could significantly affect program outcomes, and preferably in coordination with performance reporting. The Federal awarding agency must use OMB-approved common information collections, as applicable, when providing financial and performance reporting information. 24 CFR § 5.801 (d)(1) provides that unaudited financial statements will be required 60 days after the PHA's fiscal year end, and audited financial statements will then be required no later than 9 months after the PHA's fiscal year end, in accordance with the Single Audit Act and 2 CFR part 200, subpart F. In addition, 24 CFR § 5.801 (b)(1) provides that entities to which this subpart is applicable must provide to HUD such financial information as required by HUD prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The Authority submitted its audited submission for the year ended December 31, 2021 in the Financial Assessment Sub-system (FASS-PH) on January 30, 2024. This submission was rejected and resubmitted on March 21, 2024. The Authority had received a sixty-day extension until November 30, 2022. This submission was not within the required timeframes or extension. The delays in submissions were due to investigations into fraudulent transactions by the former Executive Director. The failure to timely submit the required financial information reduces the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s ability to monitor subrecipients. Although the annual financial statements were prepared in accordance with GAAP, a required Statement of Cash Flows was not included. The Authority should continue working with their compiler and auditors to rectify the accounting issues resulting from the actions of the former Executive Director. Once that is completed, the Authority should timely remit the required reports and submit a complete annual financial report prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Fraudulent Checks Finding Number: 2022-006 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance, Material Weakness, and Questioned Cost 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 CFR Part 200 Subpart E § 200.403 which provides that, except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet certain general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards including being necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles and being adequately documented. State ex rel. McClure v. Hagerman, 155 Ohio St. 320 (1951), provides that expenditures made by a governmental unit should serve a public purpose. Typically, the determination of what constitutes a “proper public purpose” rests with the judgment of the governmental entity, unless such determination is arbitrary or unreasonable. Even if a purchase is reasonable, Ohio Attorney General Opinion 82006 indicates that it must be memorialized by a duly enacted ordinance or resolution and may have a prospective effect only. Auditor of State Bulletin 2003-005 Expenditure of Public Funds/Proper Public Purpose states, in part, the Auditor of State’s Office will only question expenditures where the legislative determination of a public purpose is manifestly arbitrary and incorrect. Due to lack of proper internal controls and fraud by the previous Executive Director, expenditures totaling $324,624 were posted to the Housing Voucher Cluster in 2022. These expenditures were not related to the Housing Voucher Cluster as they pertained to fraud. There was no valid support for the expenditures. As such, the entire $324,624 is considered a questioned cost. These costs were also not for proper public purposes. The Board and Authority management should implement proper internal controls to ensure proper segregation of duties to help prevent and deter fraud.

Payroll Allocations Finding Number: 2022-007 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance and Significant Deficiency 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 C.F.R. § 200.430 which provides, in part, that costs of compensation are allowable to the extent that they satisfy the specific requirements of this part, and that the total compensation for individual employees is reasonable for the services rendered and conforms to the established written policy of the non-Federal entity consistently applied to both Federal and non-Federal activities. The Authority approved a standard allocation of 64% of administrative salaries to the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program. However, due to a failure of internal controls when a fire at the Authority offices limited staff access to the Office resulting in the Executive Director circumventing established controls to process payroll, one payroll processed during 2022 allocated 100% of salaries to the HCV Program rather than the approved 64%. The total amount posted to HCV in error was $3,348. The Executive Director and Financial Director should ensure that all payroll is correctly allocated by program for every payroll.

Rent Reasonableness Finding Number: 2022-008 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions, Reasonable Rent Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No 24 CFR § 982.158(f)(7) provides that the Public Housing Authority (PHA) must keep records to document the basis for PHA determination that rent to owner is a reasonable rent (initially and during the term of a HAP contract) for at least three years. 24 CFR § 982.54(d)(15) provides the Public Housing Authority (PHA) administrative plan must cover policies on the method of determining that rent to owner is a reasonable rent (initially and during the term of a Housing Assistance Payment contract). The Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher Administrative Plan Section 8 provides the Authority will make a rent reasonableness determination at initial occupancy and whenever the owner requests a rent adjustment. The Authority could not provide the reasonable rent certification for 18 percent of the initial occupancy tenant files tested for the Housing Choice Voucher program. The failure to document rent reasonableness could lead to future questioned costs, reduced future federal funding, and the requirement to repay the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Executive Director and Housing Choice Voucher employees should ensure all tenant files maintain the appropriate documentation and meet the requirements for rent reasonableness.

Financial Reporting Finding Number: 2022-009 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles, Eligibility, Reporting, Special Tests and Provisions Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? Yes Prior Audit Finding Number: 2021-007 Sound accounting practices require that when designing the public office’s system of internal control and the specific control activities, management should ensure adequate security of assets and records, and verify the existence and valuation of assets and liabilities and periodically reconcile them to the accounting records. As noted in Finding 2022-003, the Authority was unable to provide audit evidence to support the completeness of the amounts reported on the financial statements, as well as certain transactions, including fraudulent transactions. Due to lack of audit evidence, the necessary adjustments to the financial statements for the issues identified in Finding 2022-003 were undeterminable and we were unable to express an opinion on the Authority’s accompanying financial statements or determine the completeness of the amounts reported on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. As a result, we were also unable to obtain audit evidence supporting the completeness of the populations for testing the program compliance requirements, and unable to determine whether the Authority complied with the Activities Allowed or Unallowed, Allowable Cost / Cost Principles, Eligibility, Reporting or Special Tests and Provisions compliance requirements. Therefore, we have issued a disclaimer of opinion on the Housing Voucher Cluster program compliance. See Finding 2022-003 in Section 2 above. Uniform Guidance also requires us to report this finding in this section of this Schedule.

HQS Enforcement Finding Number: 2022-004 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions, HQS Enforcement/Housing Quality Standards Inspections Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? Yes Prior Audit Finding Number: 2021-005 Noncompliance and Material Weakness 24 CFR § 982.404 provides that the owner must maintain the unit in accordance with HQS. If the owner fails to maintain the dwelling unit in accordance with Housing Quality Standards (HQS), the PHA must take prompt and vigorous action to enforce the owner obligations. PHA remedies for such breach of the HQS include termination, suspension or reduction of housing assistance payments and termination of the HAP contract. The PHA must not make any housing assistance payments for a dwelling unit that fails to meet the HQS, unless the owner corrects the defect within the period specified by the PHA and the PHA verifies the correction. If a defect is life threatening, the owner must correct the defect within no more than 24 hours. For other defects, the owner must correct the defect within no more than 30 calendar days (or any PHA-approved extension). The owner is not responsible for a breach of the HQS that is not caused by the owner, and for which the family is responsible (as provided in § 982.404(b) and § 982.551(c)). However, the PHA may terminate assistance to a family because of HQS breach caused by the family. The Authority did not have HQS re-inspections completed within 30 calendar days for HQS inspection failures for 40 percent of inspection failures tested. Further, the Authority did not formally approve any related extensions. Failure to complete timely re-inspections or approve extensions could result in dwellings not maintained in accordance with HQS. The Authority should complete re-inspections within the required time frame or approve extensions.

Reporting Finding Number: 2022-005 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Reporting Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance and Material Weakness 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 CFR § 200.328 which provides that, unless otherwise approved by OMB, the Federal awarding agency must solicit only the OMB-approved governmentwide data elements for collection of financial information at time of publication the Federal Financial Report or such future, OMB-approved, governmentwide data elements available from the OMB-designated standards lead. This information must be collected with the frequency required by the terms and conditions of the Federal award, but no less frequently than annually nor more frequently than quarterly except in unusual circumstances, for example where more frequent reporting is necessary for the effective monitoring of the Federal award or could significantly affect program outcomes, and preferably in coordination with performance reporting. The Federal awarding agency must use OMB-approved common information collections, as applicable, when providing financial and performance reporting information. 24 CFR § 5.801 (d)(1) provides that unaudited financial statements will be required 60 days after the PHA's fiscal year end, and audited financial statements will then be required no later than 9 months after the PHA's fiscal year end, in accordance with the Single Audit Act and 2 CFR part 200, subpart F. In addition, 24 CFR § 5.801 (b)(1) provides that entities to which this subpart is applicable must provide to HUD such financial information as required by HUD prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The Authority submitted its audited submission for the year ended December 31, 2021 in the Financial Assessment Sub-system (FASS-PH) on January 30, 2024. This submission was rejected and resubmitted on March 21, 2024. The Authority had received a sixty-day extension until November 30, 2022. This submission was not within the required timeframes or extension. The delays in submissions were due to investigations into fraudulent transactions by the former Executive Director. The failure to timely submit the required financial information reduces the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s ability to monitor subrecipients. Although the annual financial statements were prepared in accordance with GAAP, a required Statement of Cash Flows was not included. The Authority should continue working with their compiler and auditors to rectify the accounting issues resulting from the actions of the former Executive Director. Once that is completed, the Authority should timely remit the required reports and submit a complete annual financial report prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Fraudulent Checks Finding Number: 2022-006 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance, Material Weakness, and Questioned Cost 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 CFR Part 200 Subpart E § 200.403 which provides that, except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet certain general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards including being necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles and being adequately documented. State ex rel. McClure v. Hagerman, 155 Ohio St. 320 (1951), provides that expenditures made by a governmental unit should serve a public purpose. Typically, the determination of what constitutes a “proper public purpose” rests with the judgment of the governmental entity, unless such determination is arbitrary or unreasonable. Even if a purchase is reasonable, Ohio Attorney General Opinion 82006 indicates that it must be memorialized by a duly enacted ordinance or resolution and may have a prospective effect only. Auditor of State Bulletin 2003-005 Expenditure of Public Funds/Proper Public Purpose states, in part, the Auditor of State’s Office will only question expenditures where the legislative determination of a public purpose is manifestly arbitrary and incorrect. Due to lack of proper internal controls and fraud by the previous Executive Director, expenditures totaling $324,624 were posted to the Housing Voucher Cluster in 2022. These expenditures were not related to the Housing Voucher Cluster as they pertained to fraud. There was no valid support for the expenditures. As such, the entire $324,624 is considered a questioned cost. These costs were also not for proper public purposes. The Board and Authority management should implement proper internal controls to ensure proper segregation of duties to help prevent and deter fraud.

Payroll Allocations Finding Number: 2022-007 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance and Significant Deficiency 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 C.F.R. § 200.430 which provides, in part, that costs of compensation are allowable to the extent that they satisfy the specific requirements of this part, and that the total compensation for individual employees is reasonable for the services rendered and conforms to the established written policy of the non-Federal entity consistently applied to both Federal and non-Federal activities. The Authority approved a standard allocation of 64% of administrative salaries to the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program. However, due to a failure of internal controls when a fire at the Authority offices limited staff access to the Office resulting in the Executive Director circumventing established controls to process payroll, one payroll processed during 2022 allocated 100% of salaries to the HCV Program rather than the approved 64%. The total amount posted to HCV in error was $3,348. The Executive Director and Financial Director should ensure that all payroll is correctly allocated by program for every payroll.

Rent Reasonableness Finding Number: 2022-008 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions, Reasonable Rent Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No 24 CFR § 982.158(f)(7) provides that the Public Housing Authority (PHA) must keep records to document the basis for PHA determination that rent to owner is a reasonable rent (initially and during the term of a HAP contract) for at least three years. 24 CFR § 982.54(d)(15) provides the Public Housing Authority (PHA) administrative plan must cover policies on the method of determining that rent to owner is a reasonable rent (initially and during the term of a Housing Assistance Payment contract). The Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher Administrative Plan Section 8 provides the Authority will make a rent reasonableness determination at initial occupancy and whenever the owner requests a rent adjustment. The Authority could not provide the reasonable rent certification for 18 percent of the initial occupancy tenant files tested for the Housing Choice Voucher program. The failure to document rent reasonableness could lead to future questioned costs, reduced future federal funding, and the requirement to repay the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Executive Director and Housing Choice Voucher employees should ensure all tenant files maintain the appropriate documentation and meet the requirements for rent reasonableness.

Financial Reporting Finding Number: 2022-009 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles, Eligibility, Reporting, Special Tests and Provisions Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? Yes Prior Audit Finding Number: 2021-007 Sound accounting practices require that when designing the public office’s system of internal control and the specific control activities, management should ensure adequate security of assets and records, and verify the existence and valuation of assets and liabilities and periodically reconcile them to the accounting records. As noted in Finding 2022-003, the Authority was unable to provide audit evidence to support the completeness of the amounts reported on the financial statements, as well as certain transactions, including fraudulent transactions. Due to lack of audit evidence, the necessary adjustments to the financial statements for the issues identified in Finding 2022-003 were undeterminable and we were unable to express an opinion on the Authority’s accompanying financial statements or determine the completeness of the amounts reported on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. As a result, we were also unable to obtain audit evidence supporting the completeness of the populations for testing the program compliance requirements, and unable to determine whether the Authority complied with the Activities Allowed or Unallowed, Allowable Cost / Cost Principles, Eligibility, Reporting or Special Tests and Provisions compliance requirements. Therefore, we have issued a disclaimer of opinion on the Housing Voucher Cluster program compliance. See Finding 2022-003 in Section 2 above. Uniform Guidance also requires us to report this finding in this section of this Schedule.

HQS Enforcement Finding Number: 2022-004 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions, HQS Enforcement/Housing Quality Standards Inspections Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? Yes Prior Audit Finding Number: 2021-005 Noncompliance and Material Weakness 24 CFR § 982.404 provides that the owner must maintain the unit in accordance with HQS. If the owner fails to maintain the dwelling unit in accordance with Housing Quality Standards (HQS), the PHA must take prompt and vigorous action to enforce the owner obligations. PHA remedies for such breach of the HQS include termination, suspension or reduction of housing assistance payments and termination of the HAP contract. The PHA must not make any housing assistance payments for a dwelling unit that fails to meet the HQS, unless the owner corrects the defect within the period specified by the PHA and the PHA verifies the correction. If a defect is life threatening, the owner must correct the defect within no more than 24 hours. For other defects, the owner must correct the defect within no more than 30 calendar days (or any PHA-approved extension). The owner is not responsible for a breach of the HQS that is not caused by the owner, and for which the family is responsible (as provided in § 982.404(b) and § 982.551(c)). However, the PHA may terminate assistance to a family because of HQS breach caused by the family. The Authority did not have HQS re-inspections completed within 30 calendar days for HQS inspection failures for 40 percent of inspection failures tested. Further, the Authority did not formally approve any related extensions. Failure to complete timely re-inspections or approve extensions could result in dwellings not maintained in accordance with HQS. The Authority should complete re-inspections within the required time frame or approve extensions.

Reporting Finding Number: 2022-005 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Reporting Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance and Material Weakness 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 CFR § 200.328 which provides that, unless otherwise approved by OMB, the Federal awarding agency must solicit only the OMB-approved governmentwide data elements for collection of financial information at time of publication the Federal Financial Report or such future, OMB-approved, governmentwide data elements available from the OMB-designated standards lead. This information must be collected with the frequency required by the terms and conditions of the Federal award, but no less frequently than annually nor more frequently than quarterly except in unusual circumstances, for example where more frequent reporting is necessary for the effective monitoring of the Federal award or could significantly affect program outcomes, and preferably in coordination with performance reporting. The Federal awarding agency must use OMB-approved common information collections, as applicable, when providing financial and performance reporting information. 24 CFR § 5.801 (d)(1) provides that unaudited financial statements will be required 60 days after the PHA's fiscal year end, and audited financial statements will then be required no later than 9 months after the PHA's fiscal year end, in accordance with the Single Audit Act and 2 CFR part 200, subpart F. In addition, 24 CFR § 5.801 (b)(1) provides that entities to which this subpart is applicable must provide to HUD such financial information as required by HUD prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The Authority submitted its audited submission for the year ended December 31, 2021 in the Financial Assessment Sub-system (FASS-PH) on January 30, 2024. This submission was rejected and resubmitted on March 21, 2024. The Authority had received a sixty-day extension until November 30, 2022. This submission was not within the required timeframes or extension. The delays in submissions were due to investigations into fraudulent transactions by the former Executive Director. The failure to timely submit the required financial information reduces the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s ability to monitor subrecipients. Although the annual financial statements were prepared in accordance with GAAP, a required Statement of Cash Flows was not included. The Authority should continue working with their compiler and auditors to rectify the accounting issues resulting from the actions of the former Executive Director. Once that is completed, the Authority should timely remit the required reports and submit a complete annual financial report prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Fraudulent Checks Finding Number: 2022-006 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance, Material Weakness, and Questioned Cost 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 CFR Part 200 Subpart E § 200.403 which provides that, except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet certain general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards including being necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles and being adequately documented. State ex rel. McClure v. Hagerman, 155 Ohio St. 320 (1951), provides that expenditures made by a governmental unit should serve a public purpose. Typically, the determination of what constitutes a “proper public purpose” rests with the judgment of the governmental entity, unless such determination is arbitrary or unreasonable. Even if a purchase is reasonable, Ohio Attorney General Opinion 82006 indicates that it must be memorialized by a duly enacted ordinance or resolution and may have a prospective effect only. Auditor of State Bulletin 2003-005 Expenditure of Public Funds/Proper Public Purpose states, in part, the Auditor of State’s Office will only question expenditures where the legislative determination of a public purpose is manifestly arbitrary and incorrect. Due to lack of proper internal controls and fraud by the previous Executive Director, expenditures totaling $324,624 were posted to the Housing Voucher Cluster in 2022. These expenditures were not related to the Housing Voucher Cluster as they pertained to fraud. There was no valid support for the expenditures. As such, the entire $324,624 is considered a questioned cost. These costs were also not for proper public purposes. The Board and Authority management should implement proper internal controls to ensure proper segregation of duties to help prevent and deter fraud.

Payroll Allocations Finding Number: 2022-007 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance and Significant Deficiency 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 C.F.R. § 200.430 which provides, in part, that costs of compensation are allowable to the extent that they satisfy the specific requirements of this part, and that the total compensation for individual employees is reasonable for the services rendered and conforms to the established written policy of the non-Federal entity consistently applied to both Federal and non-Federal activities. The Authority approved a standard allocation of 64% of administrative salaries to the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program. However, due to a failure of internal controls when a fire at the Authority offices limited staff access to the Office resulting in the Executive Director circumventing established controls to process payroll, one payroll processed during 2022 allocated 100% of salaries to the HCV Program rather than the approved 64%. The total amount posted to HCV in error was $3,348. The Executive Director and Financial Director should ensure that all payroll is correctly allocated by program for every payroll.

Rent Reasonableness Finding Number: 2022-008 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions, Reasonable Rent Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No 24 CFR § 982.158(f)(7) provides that the Public Housing Authority (PHA) must keep records to document the basis for PHA determination that rent to owner is a reasonable rent (initially and during the term of a HAP contract) for at least three years. 24 CFR § 982.54(d)(15) provides the Public Housing Authority (PHA) administrative plan must cover policies on the method of determining that rent to owner is a reasonable rent (initially and during the term of a Housing Assistance Payment contract). The Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher Administrative Plan Section 8 provides the Authority will make a rent reasonableness determination at initial occupancy and whenever the owner requests a rent adjustment. The Authority could not provide the reasonable rent certification for 18 percent of the initial occupancy tenant files tested for the Housing Choice Voucher program. The failure to document rent reasonableness could lead to future questioned costs, reduced future federal funding, and the requirement to repay the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Executive Director and Housing Choice Voucher employees should ensure all tenant files maintain the appropriate documentation and meet the requirements for rent reasonableness.

Financial Reporting Finding Number: 2022-009 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles, Eligibility, Reporting, Special Tests and Provisions Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? Yes Prior Audit Finding Number: 2021-007 Sound accounting practices require that when designing the public office’s system of internal control and the specific control activities, management should ensure adequate security of assets and records, and verify the existence and valuation of assets and liabilities and periodically reconcile them to the accounting records. As noted in Finding 2022-003, the Authority was unable to provide audit evidence to support the completeness of the amounts reported on the financial statements, as well as certain transactions, including fraudulent transactions. Due to lack of audit evidence, the necessary adjustments to the financial statements for the issues identified in Finding 2022-003 were undeterminable and we were unable to express an opinion on the Authority’s accompanying financial statements or determine the completeness of the amounts reported on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. As a result, we were also unable to obtain audit evidence supporting the completeness of the populations for testing the program compliance requirements, and unable to determine whether the Authority complied with the Activities Allowed or Unallowed, Allowable Cost / Cost Principles, Eligibility, Reporting or Special Tests and Provisions compliance requirements. Therefore, we have issued a disclaimer of opinion on the Housing Voucher Cluster program compliance. See Finding 2022-003 in Section 2 above. Uniform Guidance also requires us to report this finding in this section of this Schedule.

HQS Enforcement Finding Number: 2022-004 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions, HQS Enforcement/Housing Quality Standards Inspections Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? Yes Prior Audit Finding Number: 2021-005 Noncompliance and Material Weakness 24 CFR § 982.404 provides that the owner must maintain the unit in accordance with HQS. If the owner fails to maintain the dwelling unit in accordance with Housing Quality Standards (HQS), the PHA must take prompt and vigorous action to enforce the owner obligations. PHA remedies for such breach of the HQS include termination, suspension or reduction of housing assistance payments and termination of the HAP contract. The PHA must not make any housing assistance payments for a dwelling unit that fails to meet the HQS, unless the owner corrects the defect within the period specified by the PHA and the PHA verifies the correction. If a defect is life threatening, the owner must correct the defect within no more than 24 hours. For other defects, the owner must correct the defect within no more than 30 calendar days (or any PHA-approved extension). The owner is not responsible for a breach of the HQS that is not caused by the owner, and for which the family is responsible (as provided in § 982.404(b) and § 982.551(c)). However, the PHA may terminate assistance to a family because of HQS breach caused by the family. The Authority did not have HQS re-inspections completed within 30 calendar days for HQS inspection failures for 40 percent of inspection failures tested. Further, the Authority did not formally approve any related extensions. Failure to complete timely re-inspections or approve extensions could result in dwellings not maintained in accordance with HQS. The Authority should complete re-inspections within the required time frame or approve extensions.

Reporting Finding Number: 2022-005 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Reporting Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance and Material Weakness 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 CFR § 200.328 which provides that, unless otherwise approved by OMB, the Federal awarding agency must solicit only the OMB-approved governmentwide data elements for collection of financial information at time of publication the Federal Financial Report or such future, OMB-approved, governmentwide data elements available from the OMB-designated standards lead. This information must be collected with the frequency required by the terms and conditions of the Federal award, but no less frequently than annually nor more frequently than quarterly except in unusual circumstances, for example where more frequent reporting is necessary for the effective monitoring of the Federal award or could significantly affect program outcomes, and preferably in coordination with performance reporting. The Federal awarding agency must use OMB-approved common information collections, as applicable, when providing financial and performance reporting information. 24 CFR § 5.801 (d)(1) provides that unaudited financial statements will be required 60 days after the PHA's fiscal year end, and audited financial statements will then be required no later than 9 months after the PHA's fiscal year end, in accordance with the Single Audit Act and 2 CFR part 200, subpart F. In addition, 24 CFR § 5.801 (b)(1) provides that entities to which this subpart is applicable must provide to HUD such financial information as required by HUD prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The Authority submitted its audited submission for the year ended December 31, 2021 in the Financial Assessment Sub-system (FASS-PH) on January 30, 2024. This submission was rejected and resubmitted on March 21, 2024. The Authority had received a sixty-day extension until November 30, 2022. This submission was not within the required timeframes or extension. The delays in submissions were due to investigations into fraudulent transactions by the former Executive Director. The failure to timely submit the required financial information reduces the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s ability to monitor subrecipients. Although the annual financial statements were prepared in accordance with GAAP, a required Statement of Cash Flows was not included. The Authority should continue working with their compiler and auditors to rectify the accounting issues resulting from the actions of the former Executive Director. Once that is completed, the Authority should timely remit the required reports and submit a complete annual financial report prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Fraudulent Checks Finding Number: 2022-006 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance, Material Weakness, and Questioned Cost 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 CFR Part 200 Subpart E § 200.403 which provides that, except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet certain general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards including being necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles and being adequately documented. State ex rel. McClure v. Hagerman, 155 Ohio St. 320 (1951), provides that expenditures made by a governmental unit should serve a public purpose. Typically, the determination of what constitutes a “proper public purpose” rests with the judgment of the governmental entity, unless such determination is arbitrary or unreasonable. Even if a purchase is reasonable, Ohio Attorney General Opinion 82006 indicates that it must be memorialized by a duly enacted ordinance or resolution and may have a prospective effect only. Auditor of State Bulletin 2003-005 Expenditure of Public Funds/Proper Public Purpose states, in part, the Auditor of State’s Office will only question expenditures where the legislative determination of a public purpose is manifestly arbitrary and incorrect. Due to lack of proper internal controls and fraud by the previous Executive Director, expenditures totaling $324,624 were posted to the Housing Voucher Cluster in 2022. These expenditures were not related to the Housing Voucher Cluster as they pertained to fraud. There was no valid support for the expenditures. As such, the entire $324,624 is considered a questioned cost. These costs were also not for proper public purposes. The Board and Authority management should implement proper internal controls to ensure proper segregation of duties to help prevent and deter fraud.

Payroll Allocations Finding Number: 2022-007 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No Noncompliance and Significant Deficiency 2 CFR § 2400.101 gives regulatory effect to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 2 C.F.R. § 200.430 which provides, in part, that costs of compensation are allowable to the extent that they satisfy the specific requirements of this part, and that the total compensation for individual employees is reasonable for the services rendered and conforms to the established written policy of the non-Federal entity consistently applied to both Federal and non-Federal activities. The Authority approved a standard allocation of 64% of administrative salaries to the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program. However, due to a failure of internal controls when a fire at the Authority offices limited staff access to the Office resulting in the Executive Director circumventing established controls to process payroll, one payroll processed during 2022 allocated 100% of salaries to the HCV Program rather than the approved 64%. The total amount posted to HCV in error was $3,348. The Executive Director and Financial Director should ensure that all payroll is correctly allocated by program for every payroll.

Rent Reasonableness Finding Number: 2022-008 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Special Tests and Provisions, Reasonable Rent Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? No 24 CFR § 982.158(f)(7) provides that the Public Housing Authority (PHA) must keep records to document the basis for PHA determination that rent to owner is a reasonable rent (initially and during the term of a HAP contract) for at least three years. 24 CFR § 982.54(d)(15) provides the Public Housing Authority (PHA) administrative plan must cover policies on the method of determining that rent to owner is a reasonable rent (initially and during the term of a Housing Assistance Payment contract). The Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher Administrative Plan Section 8 provides the Authority will make a rent reasonableness determination at initial occupancy and whenever the owner requests a rent adjustment. The Authority could not provide the reasonable rent certification for 18 percent of the initial occupancy tenant files tested for the Housing Choice Voucher program. The failure to document rent reasonableness could lead to future questioned costs, reduced future federal funding, and the requirement to repay the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Executive Director and Housing Choice Voucher employees should ensure all tenant files maintain the appropriate documentation and meet the requirements for rent reasonableness.

Financial Reporting Finding Number: 2022-009 Assistance Listing Number and Title: AL # 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers/Housing Voucher Cluster Federal Award Identification Number / Year: 2022 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Compliance Requirement: Activities Allowed or Unallowed and Allowable Costs/Cost Principles, Eligibility, Reporting, Special Tests and Provisions Pass-Through Entity: N/A Repeat Finding from Prior Audit? Yes Prior Audit Finding Number: 2021-007 Sound accounting practices require that when designing the public office’s system of internal control and the specific control activities, management should ensure adequate security of assets and records, and verify the existence and valuation of assets and liabilities and periodically reconcile them to the accounting records. As noted in Finding 2022-003, the Authority was unable to provide audit evidence to support the completeness of the amounts reported on the financial statements, as well as certain transactions, including fraudulent transactions. Due to lack of audit evidence, the necessary adjustments to the financial statements for the issues identified in Finding 2022-003 were undeterminable and we were unable to express an opinion on the Authority’s accompanying financial statements or determine the completeness of the amounts reported on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards. As a result, we were also unable to obtain audit evidence supporting the completeness of the populations for testing the program compliance requirements, and unable to determine whether the Authority complied with the Activities Allowed or Unallowed, Allowable Cost / Cost Principles, Eligibility, Reporting or Special Tests and Provisions compliance requirements. Therefore, we have issued a disclaimer of opinion on the Housing Voucher Cluster program compliance. See Finding 2022-003 in Section 2 above. Uniform Guidance also requires us to report this finding in this section of this Schedule.