Audit 48802

FY End
2022-06-30
Total Expended
$158.86M
Findings
4
Programs
64
Organization: Knox County Government (TN)
Year: 2022 Accepted: 2023-03-28

Organization Exclusion Status:

Checking exclusion status...

Findings

ID Ref Severity Repeat Requirement
40058 2022-004 Significant Deficiency - A
40059 2022-004 Significant Deficiency - A
616500 2022-004 Significant Deficiency - A
616501 2022-004 Significant Deficiency - A

Programs

ALN Program Spent Major Findings
21.023 Emergency Rental Assistance Program $27.09M Yes 1
93.323 Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases (elc) $4.49M - 0
21.019 Coronavirus Relief Fund $2.78M Yes 0
84.367 Improving Teacher Quality State Grants $2.09M - 0
84.027 Special Education_grants to States $1.02M Yes 0
84.424 Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program $1.02M - 0
84.048 Career and Technical Education -- Basic Grants to States $866,516 - 0
84.365 English Language Acquisition State Grants $655,754 - 0
93.917 Hiv Care Formula Grants $577,826 - 0
93.870 Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant $555,619 - 0
84.173 Special Education_preschool Grants $551,767 Yes 0
10.582 Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program $418,688 - 0
14.218 Community Development Block Grants/entitlement Grants $386,409 - 0
93.217 Family Planning_services $347,808 - 0
84.411 Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund $346,209 - 0
14.239 Home Investment Partnerships Program $325,057 - 0
93.563 Child Support Enforcement $309,674 - 0
97.067 Homeland Security Grant Program $297,778 - 0
66.001 Air Pollution Control Program Support $279,492 - 0
66.034 Surveys, Studies, Research, Investigations, Demonstrations, and Special Purpose Activities Relating to the Clean Air Act $233,883 - 0
97.133 Preparing for Emerging Threats and Hazards $207,791 - 0
97.036 Disaster Grants - Public Assistance (presidentially Declared Disasters) $204,872 - 0
93.977 Preventive Health Services_sexually Transmitted Diseases Control Grants $200,924 - 0
93.994 Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant to the States $199,424 - 0
93.268 Immunization Cooperative Agreements $148,341 - 0
84.287 Twenty-First Century Community Learning Centers $130,860 - 0
10.558 Child and Adult Care Food Program $119,158 - 0
93.575 Child Care and Development Block Grant $107,990 - 0
93.116 Project Grants and Cooperative Agreements for Tuberculosis Control Programs $107,341 - 0
16.034 Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding Program $100,000 - 0
93.426 Improving the Health of Americans Through Prevention and Management of Diabetes and Heart Disease and Stroke $98,010 - 0
10.557 Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children $92,404 - 0
84.051 Career and Technical Education -- National Programs $87,004 - 0
84.196 Education for Homeless Children and Youth $80,903 - 0
84.126 Rehabilitation Services_vocational Rehabilitation Grants to States $80,145 - 0
16.838 Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-Based Program $78,780 - 0
16.710 Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Grants $77,473 - 0
93.991 Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant $77,100 - 0
84.371 Striving Readers $72,799 - 0
93.074 Hospital Preparedness Program (hpp) and Public Health Emergency Preparedness (phep) Aligned Cooperative Agreements $69,119 - 0
10.555 National School Lunch Program $62,158 - 0
10.579 Child Nutrition Discretionary Grants Limited Availability $60,000 - 0
16.575 Crime Victim Assistance $55,793 - 0
93.387 National and State Tobacco Control Program (b) $53,519 - 0
95.001 High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program $43,853 - 0
93.136 Injury Prevention and Control Research and State and Community Based Programs $40,276 - 0
93.354 Public Health Emergency Response: Cooperative Agreement for Emergency Response: Public Health Crisis Response $37,202 - 0
84.425 Education Stabilization Fund $34,814 - 0
16.836 Indigent Defense $26,311 - 0
93.421 Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services Through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nations Health $23,161 - 0
84.010 Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies $20,480 Yes 0
66.460 Nonpoint Source Implementation Grants $19,280 - 0
20.205 Highway Planning and Construction $17,470 - 0
81.214 Environmental Monitoring/cleanup, Cultural and Resource Mgmt., Emergency Response Research, Outreach, Technical Analysis $15,943 - 0
20.607 Alcohol Open Container Requirements $14,415 - 0
45.310 Grants to States $10,001 - 0
20.703 Interagency Hazardous Materials Public Sector Training and Planning Grants $9,500 - 0
47.076 Education and Human Resources $8,103 - 0
16.302 Law Enforcement Assistance_fbi Field Police Training $6,104 - 0
16.607 Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program $6,082 - 0
10.649 Pandemic Ebt Administrative Costs $5,814 - 0
16.922 Equitable Sharing Program $4,166 - 0
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $3,980 Yes 0
93.940 Hiv Prevention Activities_health Department Based $764 - 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, 2021. 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: The auditee did not use the de minimis cost rate. NOTE 6 - INDIRECT COSTS A number of the County's and Boards 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, 2022. 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, CFDA Number, FY 2021 Loan Funding, Outstanding Balance; Community Development Block Grant, 14.218, $0, $5,136; HOME Investment Partnerships Programs, 14.239, $0, $440,169
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, 2021. 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: The auditee did not use the de minimis cost rate. NOTE 6 - INDIRECT COSTS A number of the County's and Boards 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. Of the expenditures presented in the schedule of expenditures of federal awards, the County provided federal awards to subrecipients as follows: Cluster / Program Title, CFDA Number, Amounts Provided to Subrecipients; Community Development Block Grant, 14.218, $1,324,708; HOME Investment Partnerships Programs, 14.239, $325,057; U.S. Treasury Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, 21.027, $2,437,289; Title I Grants to Local Education Agencies, 84.010A, $508,150; Special Education Cluster (IDEA), 84.027A, $83,828
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, 2021. 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: The auditee did not use the de minimis cost rate. NOTE 6 - INDIRECT COSTS A number of the County's and Boards 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

2022-004 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 an applicant who submitted fraudulent applications to the program. This situation was discovered by the Community Development Office through a whistleblower. Cause and Effect - Due to the nature of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, applicants are able to self-certify that they meet a large portion of the program?s eligibility requirements. The applicant falsified documentation to appear eligible to receive funding from the program. Program management had established adequate internal controls over the program and properly processed the application under the guidance of the Federal Program. However, self-certification makes it difficult to detect fraudulent applications. The result was the program made unallowable payments. Questioned Costs and Prevalence - An investigation is currently ongoing, but management believes that fraudulent disbursements to the applicant are between $25,000 and $160,000. Management has not identified any additional fraudulent payments and believes this to be an isolated incident. Recommendations - We recommend that management establish a process to identify applicants who have received a high level of funding from the program and determine their reasonableness prior to issuing future payments. Management?s Response - We concur with the recommendations and have implemented additional steps in the fraud prevention procedures previously implemented for this program.
2022-004 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 an applicant who submitted fraudulent applications to the program. This situation was discovered by the Community Development Office through a whistleblower. Cause and Effect - Due to the nature of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, applicants are able to self-certify that they meet a large portion of the program?s eligibility requirements. The applicant falsified documentation to appear eligible to receive funding from the program. Program management had established adequate internal controls over the program and properly processed the application under the guidance of the Federal Program. However, self-certification makes it difficult to detect fraudulent applications. The result was the program made unallowable payments. Questioned Costs and Prevalence - An investigation is currently ongoing, but management believes that fraudulent disbursements to the applicant are between $25,000 and $160,000. Management has not identified any additional fraudulent payments and believes this to be an isolated incident. Recommendations - We recommend that management establish a process to identify applicants who have received a high level of funding from the program and determine their reasonableness prior to issuing future payments. Management?s Response - We concur with the recommendations and have implemented additional steps in the fraud prevention procedures previously implemented for this program.
2022-004 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 an applicant who submitted fraudulent applications to the program. This situation was discovered by the Community Development Office through a whistleblower. Cause and Effect - Due to the nature of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, applicants are able to self-certify that they meet a large portion of the program?s eligibility requirements. The applicant falsified documentation to appear eligible to receive funding from the program. Program management had established adequate internal controls over the program and properly processed the application under the guidance of the Federal Program. However, self-certification makes it difficult to detect fraudulent applications. The result was the program made unallowable payments. Questioned Costs and Prevalence - An investigation is currently ongoing, but management believes that fraudulent disbursements to the applicant are between $25,000 and $160,000. Management has not identified any additional fraudulent payments and believes this to be an isolated incident. Recommendations - We recommend that management establish a process to identify applicants who have received a high level of funding from the program and determine their reasonableness prior to issuing future payments. Management?s Response - We concur with the recommendations and have implemented additional steps in the fraud prevention procedures previously implemented for this program.
2022-004 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 an applicant who submitted fraudulent applications to the program. This situation was discovered by the Community Development Office through a whistleblower. Cause and Effect - Due to the nature of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, applicants are able to self-certify that they meet a large portion of the program?s eligibility requirements. The applicant falsified documentation to appear eligible to receive funding from the program. Program management had established adequate internal controls over the program and properly processed the application under the guidance of the Federal Program. However, self-certification makes it difficult to detect fraudulent applications. The result was the program made unallowable payments. Questioned Costs and Prevalence - An investigation is currently ongoing, but management believes that fraudulent disbursements to the applicant are between $25,000 and $160,000. Management has not identified any additional fraudulent payments and believes this to be an isolated incident. Recommendations - We recommend that management establish a process to identify applicants who have received a high level of funding from the program and determine their reasonableness prior to issuing future payments. Management?s Response - We concur with the recommendations and have implemented additional steps in the fraud prevention procedures previously implemented for this program.