Audit 408108

ALN 93.558 – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Passed through Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) Criteria: Allowability of Activities and Costs - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services established requirements for allowable activities and costs for local governments as outlined in 42 USC 601 and 45 CFR section 263.11. These requirements established allowable activities and costs for TANF expenditures to comply with 2 CFR 200.400 -200.476. Additionally, ODJFS provides requirements for random moment sample (RMS) time studies in Ohio Administrative Code Section 5101:9-7-20. Eligibility – ODJFS requires each county in Ohio to develop and adopt a Prevention, Retention, and Contingency (PRC) Program Plan. The PRC Plan adopted by each county identifies eligibility requirements for the PRC portion of TANF. ACDJFS has adopted such a plan which governs eligibility for the program. Conditions: ODJFS conducted a monitoring visit at Athens County Department of Job and Family Services for the State Fiscal Year 2025. We incorporated the results of this monitoring with the results of our audit procedures. ACDJFS incurred multiple direct expenses that are not in compliance with TANF allowability rules, including: • Annual debt payment for the County’s Ohio Means Jobs facility • Renovation costs for facilities not fully utilized for TANF purposes • Direct expenses to support programs which served eligible and non-eligible participants • ACDJFS promotional items and advertising ACDJFS employees are responsible for identifying the activity and program they are working on when an e-mail is sent to them by the ODJFS RMS system. These RMS observations are then review and approved by the employees’ supervisors. Once the RMS observations are recorded the ODJFS system uses RMS information to allocate employee payroll costs to federal grants. Employees inaccurately responded to RMS observations and their costs were improperly allocated to TANF while working on programs which served eligible and non-eligible participants. Cause: ACDJFS did not have appropriate procedures and controls in place regarding the charging of direct expenses to TANF or regarding the submission and review of RMS observations. Furthermore, programs, such as Operation Fully Belly, Back to School Bash, and Winterfest, were being operated to serve both eligible and non-eligible participants, but RMS observations were submitted and approved to allocate 100% of payroll costs to TANF rather than allocating a portion to other funding sources for non-eligible participants. Effect: The results of the ODJFS monitoring required the County to enter into a repayment plan with ODJFS to reimburse $2,585,898 in unallowable costs and support to non-eligible participants being charged to TANF. A portion of these costs identified by ODJFS relate to costs charged to TANF prior to January 1, 2025. Questioned Costs: Known questioned costs for the year ended December 31, 2025 are $1,400,735. Recommendation: We recommend ACDJFS enhance its controls over allocation of direct expenses and RMS observations. ACDJFS should pay special attention to programs serving both eligible and non-eligible participants and properly advise and train staff on how to respond to RMS observations when working on these programs.