Finding 3184 (2022-003)

Significant Deficiency
Requirement
C
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2022
Accepted
2023-12-04

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The District overdrew $2,387.08 from the water efficiency project grant due to poor record-keeping and lack of oversight.
  • Impacted Requirements: Federal funds must only be drawn after incurring costs with non-federal entity funds, and proper documentation is required for reimbursement requests.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: The District should review all payment requests for accuracy and ensure all expenditures are well-documented to prevent future errors.

Finding Text

WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) Assistance Listing Number 15.507, Cash Management Condition: The District overdrew on the water efficiency project grant. Criteria: The District used the reimbursement payment method for drawing federal funds, by incurring costs and requesting reimbursement for costs incurred for the project. Project costs must be paid with non-federal entity funds before submitting a payment request. Context: The District did not have expenditures supporting $2,387.08 in federal funds received. Once this error was found, management contacted BOR and received guidance on how to correct the error. Effect: The District received too much in federal funding for the water efficiency project. Cause: This was an error and lack of oversight. Audit Recommendation: We recommend the District review all payment requests for accuracy and retain all documentation for expenditures. District’s Response: As with the previous audit finding, poor record keeping by the same previous employee resulted in an overdraw of $2,387.08 that was not adequately substantiated by matching receipts. The District is currently working with the Reclamation grant program manager to return these overdrawn funds. On future grants, reimbursement draws will be strictly limited to existing and actual corresponding receipts and invoices.

Corrective Action Plan

Planned Corrective Action: The Planned Corrective Action is to instruct future GID Grant Managers the importance of having qualifying receipts or invoices that correspond directly to the amount of Federal funds being requested for reimbursement. To facilitate this successfully, Project costs must be paid with non-Federal entity funds before summitting a payment reimbursement request from the Grant program funds. Name of Contact Person: Erling A. Juel, District Manager, will be responsible for implementing this corrective action by working with the District’s grant managers to properly implement the corrective action for on-going and current grants. Anticipated completion date: The Corrective Action will be implemented immediately and applied to the administration of on-going Federal grants.

Categories

Cash Management Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 3183 2022-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 3185 2022-004
    Significant Deficiency
  • 579625 2022-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 579626 2022-003
    Significant Deficiency
  • 579627 2022-004
    Significant Deficiency

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
15.507 Watersmart (sustaining and Manage America's Resources for Tomorrow) $1.45M