Finding 981181 (2023-003)

SIGNIFICANT DEFICIENCY SD2023-003 Inaccurate and Incomplete Reporting U.S. Department of Treasury Pass-through Florida Division of Emergency Management – ARPA ALN: 21.027 Grant No.: N/A Grant Period: March 3, 2021 through December 31, 2024 Criteria Reports should be reviewed to ensure underlying data is properly accumulated and summarized in reports and timely submitted to the grantor. Supporting amounts in the reports should be traced underlying data to ensure the amounts are in accordance with allowable stated grant criteria, including the accuracy and completeness of the reports. The grant requires Quarterly Performance Reports be submitted within 30 days after the end of each Quarter. Condition During the audit, the auditor noted an invoice provided by a grant subrecipient for $22,959 was paid twice by the City and included in the original expenditure listing for the America Rescue Plan - APRA Fund. The City requested reimbursement from the subrecipient and adjusted the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (“SEFA”) schedule. The auditor also noted one expenditure for $135,167 for street improvements was related to the fiscal year 2024. The auditor also noted two invoices of $48,755 and $22,979 for furniture related items, and two invoices for $1,241 and $4,986 for appliances. It was not determinable what allowable ARPA category these expenditures applied to. As such, the City’s finance department removed these expenditures charged to the America Rescue Plan - APRA Fund and removed these invoices from the SEFA expenditure amount. The finance department revisited the expenditures for this grant and made additional adjustments for other items not tested by the auditor. Total auditor identified and City adjustments were approximately $248,360 for this grant. The above errors were identified by the auditor and communicated to the City’s finance staff throughout the audit process. As such, the required changes were made to the SEFA. As of the date of this report, the submitted ARPA reports should be reviewed by the City to ensure applicable changes and revisions, if any, are made to ensure accurate reporting requirements are met. The auditor also noted the City did not file the reports by the required time frame as required. Auditor selected two (2) Quarterly Progress Reports and noted one of the quarterly reports (July 1 – September 30, 2023 Quarter) was not submitted within the 30-day required time frame. Cause Personnel responsible for oversight of the grant were not familiar grant requirements for the ARPA program and the reporting requirements. Effect The City was not in compliance with the grant requirements and reporting requirements for this grant. Recommendation We recommend that the staff responsible for recording and monitoring the grant be adequately trained and knowledgeable to ensure expenditures are properly recorded in accordance with grant criteria. We recommend that the City review and revise its internal process to ensure these reports are submitted by the required due dates and determine if internal controls for report submission are adequate. Views of Responsible Officials See accompany Corrective Action Plan.