Finding 36336 (2022-002)

Material Weakness
Requirement
A
Questioned Costs
$1
Year
2022
Accepted
2022-10-24
Audit: 26960
Organization: City of Crystal Lake, Illinois (IL)
Auditor: Sikich LLP

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The City submitted $260,749 in expenditures for loan reimbursement that were later found to be ineligible.
  • Impacted Requirements: The City must ensure all submitted costs meet eligibility criteria set by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA).
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Review and improve the process for submitting IEPA loan reimbursements to prevent future ineligible claims.

Finding Text

2022-002 Allowable Costs - 66.468 - Capitalization Grants for Drinking Water State Revolving Funds - April 30, 2022 Criteria: The City is responsible for submitting requests for loan disbursements to the Illinois Environmental Protections Agency (IEPA), including eligible expenditures for loan reimbursement. Condition/Context: The City submitted expenditures to IEPA totaling $260,749, that were approved by IEPA. Upon additional review, the City determined these expenditures to be ineligible as they were previously used as bond expenditures related to a previous bond issuance and are therefore ineligible expenditures for loan reimbursement. Cause: The City?s initial review process did not identify ineligible expenditures. Effect: The City provided an entry to retroactively correct the loan proceeds and note payable by reducing the current year loan receivable for the amount of ineligible expenditures. Questioned Costs: $260,749 Recommendation: We recommend the City review its process and procedures related to submitting IEPA loan reimbursements, to ensure all expenditures are eligible for reimbursement. Views of Responsible Officials: The City agrees with the finding above, further information is provided in the Corrective Action Plan.

Corrective Action Plan

Condition Found: During audit fieldwork, the auditors spoke to City Staff about the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) Loan reimbursements the City had received during FY2022. The question was whether or not the expenditures we asked to be reimbursed for were eligible because the expense was incurred prior to the loan being approved. The expenditures in question had already been reimbursed to the City from the IEPA and were considered eligible expenditures. When the request from the auditors came for the account numbers that the expenditures had been paid out of, City Staff realized that the majority of these older invoices had been paid with proceeds from the 2015 GO Note issuance, and as such were not eligible to be reimbursed by the IEPA. City Staff relayed this discovery to the auditors and recorded an adjustment to reduce the receivable from the IEPA ($260,749.30) that were not eligible. The City has worked with the consultant managing the project at Baxter and Woodman, and the IEPA, to remedy the issue with a reduction to the City's next distribution. The IEPA loan has not been closed out as of this date, allowing for the reduction without significant impact. Corrective Action Plan: Going forward, the Public Works Department will forward the IEPA Loan draw requests to the Finance Department to be reviewed before being submitted to the IEPA for reimbursement. The Finance Department was not included in the draw request prior to this finding. By having the Finance Department review the draw requests, we can ensure that all items submitted for reimbursement are eligible. Staff at Baxter and Woodman, who package invoices for submittal to the IEPA on behalf of the City, will also be reviewing invoices more closely before submittal as an independent verification. Implementation Date: This change is effective immediately and the Finance Department has already started reviewing the next invoices being submitted to the IEPA for reimbursement.

Categories

Questioned Costs Allowable Costs / Cost Principles Cash Management Eligibility Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 612778 2022-002
    Material Weakness

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
66.468 Capitalization Grants for Drinking Water State Revolving Funds $2.70M
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $315,302
14.218 Community Development Block Grants/entitlement Grants $75,000
93.498 Provider Relief Fund $44,876
20.600 State and Community Highway Safety $15,639
16.607 Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program $6,269
16.922 Equitable Sharing Program $2,360