Finding Text
Johnston County, North Carolina
Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs
For the Year Ended June 30, 2024
Finding: 2024-005 FNS Eligibility Determinations
SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCY
Eligibility
Criteria:
Condition:
Questioned Costs:
Context:
Effect:
Cause:
Recommendation:
Views of responsible
officials and planned
corrective actions:
Section III. Federal Award Findings and Questioned Costs (continued)
US Department of Health and Human Services
Passed through the NC Dept. of Health and Human Services
Program Name: Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) Cluster
AL # 10.551 and 10.561
Eligibility for food and nutrition assistance programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP), is governed by federal regulations outlined in 7 CFR Part 273. These regulations mandate that state
agencies verify critical eligibility factors, including income, household composition, and residency, to ensure
benefits are provided only to qualifying individuals and families.
Additionally, North Carolina state regulations, codified under NC Administrative Code 10A NCAC 71U .0100,
require local departments of social services to adhere to specific policies and procedures for determining
eligibility and documenting supporting evidence. Failure to comply with these federal and state regulations can
lead to ineligible disbursements, loss of federal funding, and program sanctions.
There were a total of 9 errors found in our testing: 5 instances where the caseworker did not request adequate
information from the recipient related to income or an incorrect income amount was entered in NCFAST; 3
instances where the caseworker did not request adequate information from the recipient related to an expense
deduction or an incorrect expense deduction was entered in NCFAST; 1 instance where the caseworker did not
include proper residency information in the case file.
One case involved an applicant whose income was not inlcuded in the case file. This omission resulted in an
incorrect eligibility determination, allowing the applicant to receive benefits despite exceeding the income
threshold specified by the program guidelines.
Due to the nature of the populations provided from which the samples were chosen, we are unable to calculate
questioned costs for the above mentioned potential eligibility issue.
We examined 25 of 35,003 FNS/SNAP cases from a report of all active FNS/SNAP beneficiaries in the fiscal
year provided by the County's Department of Social Services. The finding is being reported with the financial
statement audit as it relates to FNS administrative cost compliance audit.
Failure to properly verify eligibility may result in benefits being provided to ineligible individuals, diverting
resources from those who qualify and increasing the risk of program non-compliance, financial losses, and
reputational harm to the administering agency.
Due to the errors noted, eligibility cannot be sufficiently substantiated and there is a risk that the County could
provide funding and/or benefits to individuals who are not program eligible.
The County should provide training of management and staff on the program's eligibility requirements, proper
case review process, and required verifications for eligibility. Also, the County should ensure that their formal
internal review process is adequately completed to identify and correct errors in case reviews.
The County agrees with the finding. See Corrective Action Plan in the following section.
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