Mike Beebe Calls For Audit Of Forestry Commission

By The Associated Press
1/12/2012 2:33:40 PM

LITTLE ROCK (AP) – Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe called on Thursday for legislative auditors to examine the Forestry Commission’s finances after a $4 million shortfall that prompted the layoff of 36 workers, and indicated that the audit’s findings may determine whether the agency’s director still has his support.

The governor said he hopes legislative auditors look at why the agency improperly used federal funds to prop up its budget over the years. He said last week he would ask the Legislature to use $2.7 million from the state’s surplus to pay back the grants and keep the agency solvent through the year.

Beebe’s office and finance officials have said the commission misled them on whether it had the authority to use the federal funds for its operations.

“The question is, why did they do that?” Beebe told reporters. “Was it a mistake? Was it intentional? Were they told to do that by somebody? Who knew about that? Those are the questions I want answered as fast as we can get them answered.”

Read the entire story.

Audit results in temporary funds being cut off from regional transit agency

By: JOURNALNOW STAFF McClatchy-Tribune
September 02, 2011

GREENSBORO – The region’s mass transit agency, already confronting challenges this year with route cuts and fare increases, now faces a temporary cutoff of some federal funds because of concerns over its internal accounting practices.

The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation received a letter last month from the U.S. Federal Transit Administration suspending PART’s access to certain federal grant revenues until PART resolves the accounting concerns. The concerns were raised in a recent audit of PART’s financial procedures conducted on behalf of the Federal Transit Administration.

“Because of the seriousness of these material weaknesses in the review, FTA has suspended PART’s drawdown privileges. … Once the findings are corrected, FTA may lift the drawdown suspension,” states the letter to PART from the regional administrative office of the Federal Transit Administration in Atlanta.

PART Executive Director Brent McKinney said that the mass transit agency is addressing the audit recommendations and expects to have the suspension lifted in the next couple of weeks. The suspension of access to Federal Transit Administration money hasn’t affected PART’s day-to-day operations and bus service, McKinney said.

Read the complete story.

9/11 led to spending binge on homeland security grants

By Chris Strohm | National Journal | September 2, 2011

The U.S. government has doled out more than $35 billion in homeland-security grants to state and local governments over the past decade. Yet even as questions persist about how effective the spending has been, officials are bracing for belt-tightening cuts.

The grants built up a network of capabilities in states, urban areas, and other regions since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Tens of thousands of first responders trained for dealing with terrorist attacks and natural disasters. At 73 “intelligence fusion” centers, analysts sift through data and share classified information over secret networks. Local police and fire departments have pricey radios, robots, and armored vehicles.

But reports over the years have revealed problems involving no-bid contracts, equipment that didn’t work as planned, and poor coordination of resources. For example, emergency-response officials in California – by far one of the largest recipients of homeland-security money – used sole-source contracts to spend about $6.2 million on license-plate readers, $4 million on public-safety radios, and $1.2 million for intelligence-analysis software, according to an audit by the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general. State officials acknowledge no-bid contracts were a problem and say they are reforming their procurement policies.

Read the complete story.

Flint could lose out on federal housing funds

Monday, August 29, 2011, 6:55 PM
By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal

FLINT, Michigan — The city potentially could lose out on $1 million or more in federal dollars for housing for low-income residents because of lagging, incomplete projects and inadequate record keeping, documents show.

The problems, which were cited in past audit reports of the affordable housing program, still haven’t been corrected to the satisfaction of the federal government.

In a letter to the city, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials warned that management of the HOME Investment Partnerships Program is in “disarray” and said city officials are cooperative but not “truly knowledgeable” about the HOME regulations and requirements.

“The city is very close to a finding of no capacity to operate a HOME program,” the letter states. “Such a finding would prevent the city from receiving future HOME allocations until its capacity sufficiently improves.”

Read the entire story.

Audit shows hundreds of thousands of dollars in U of L money spent inappropriately

WHAS11.com
Posted on August 25, 2011 at 6:41 PM

Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) – An audit shows hundreds of thousands of dollars in University of Louisville money was spent on anything but university needs.

Instead, items like lingerie, iPods, and a now former employee’s house were purchased.

WHAS11′s investigative reporter Adam Walser has learned that these are not the first allegations in the former employee’s past.

The alleged theft was discovered back in February and the employee was fired after admitting taking $150,000.

But the audit, which was released Wednesday night, indicates that the total damage was likely much higher.

When former University of Louisville Dean Robert Felner was arrested and eventually plead guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grants, the University of Louisville vowed new safeguards would keep the same thing from ever happening again.

But an audit released by the university indicates that Alisha ward, a former program coordinator for the Equine Industry Program, is believed to have taken or misspent almost as much. According to auditors, more than $550,000 was improperly spent.

Read the entire story.

Taxpayers could be on hook for jobs agency’s misspending

August 26, 2011 | By Jim Stratton, Orlando Sentinel

As investigators dig into the finances of the region’s workforce development board, federal law indicates that Central Florida taxpayers might have to repay any money that is ultimately determined to have been misspent.

Workforce Central Florida leaders insist that’s not likely, and Orange County’s attorney says local governments have “no legal liability.” But the federal law that created the agency suggests otherwise.

“The chief elected official in a local area shall serve as the local grant recipient,” the law says, “and shall be liable for any misuse of the grants funds.”

That could put taxpayers in the agency’s five-county service area on the hook for some of the $739,000 that the state recently ordered Workforce Central Florida to repay. The state determined Workforce had misused federal job-training money to settle a lawsuit with SunTrust Bank.

The state told Workforce to repay the money within 60 days and prohibited the agency from dipping into other federal funds to do so. But the agency has no other significant source of money, so it has few places to turn.

Read the entire story.

Kauai Food Bank Misuses $779,000

By Bob Jones
Wednesday – August 10, 2011

This Thursday, Hawaii Foodbank will have a blessing of its new Kauai warehouse in Puhi Industrial Park.

But wait, the Garden Island already has the Kauai Independent Food Bank near Nawilili Harbor, about a mile away!

Who needs two?

Therein is a story of intrigue, misspent funds, allegations of food going to unqualified people, and an acrimonious split between the statewide Hawaii Foodbank headed by president Richard Grimm and the now-independent one run by executive director Judith Lenthall.

It should interest individual, corporate and foundation donors, and even the U.S. Attorney’s Office because federal monies are involved.

Read the entire story.

Audit Shows that Idaho Parents Unlimited didn’t comply with federal rules

By Audrey Dutton
Published: 08/15/11

Idaho Parents Unlimited Inc., a statewide nonprofit that serves families of children and youths with special needs, hasn’t kept a financial management system that complies with federal regulations, according to a federal audit.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General said Monday that it couldn’t determine whether the group properly spent about $185,000 it received from a grant.

“Consequently, we have set aside this amount for resolution” by the federal health agency that provided the grant starting in fiscal 2009.

Idaho Parents Unlimited didn’t maintain written standards of conduct for employees handling grants and contracts, didn’t have written procurement procedures, and didn’t always submit financial reports meeting federal rules, the audit found.

The nonprofit agreed with the agency’s recommendations to fix the problems, and said it has taken action to correct them.

Read the entire story.

Scandal at the Senior Center

Written by Kelley Atherton, The Triplicate August 22, 2011 06:25 pm

The former program manager for the Del Norte Senior Center was arrested Friday morning on suspicion of embezzling public funds.

Eileen Silvey, 53, was taken into custody while at a benefit garage sale on Maiden Lane off Elk Valley Road in Crescent City.

In court documents, the Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office listed 46 felony counts of embezzlement of public funds, commercial burglary and forgery.

Bail was set at $100,000, and Silvey was released from Del Norte County Jail after posting a portion of that about two hours after her arrest.

She is suspected of taking $6,576 from the Senior Center’s Weatherization Assistance Program funded by the federal government for personal use, according to court records. She is also accused of forging a document submitted to the center.

District Attorney Jon Alexander said Silvey had a “tsunami wave-like effect” on the community impacting low-income people and seniors who should have benefited from the weatherization program.

“Federal funding intended for items such as double-paned windows and insulation went to purchase, among other things, tennis bracelets and family car detailings,” said Alexander. “Ms. Silvey preyed upon two of this county’s most vulnerable victims — our seniors and the poor — and in so doing, used the Weatherization Program as her own personal ATM.”

Read the entire story.

Federal rules snarl jobs grant for local firm

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 4:45 pm
By CURTIS WILDFONG, Argus-Press Staff Writer The Argus-Press

OWOSSO TWP. — The township, along with Shiawassee Economic Development Partnership (SEDP), is planning for the worst-case scenario regarding a $304,000 block grant obtained through the township for a local business that may have to be paid back.

The grant originated at the federal level with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and was then provided to communities through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The community development block grant was awarded to Williamston Products Inc. for the training of new personnel, said Brad Smith, a project specialist with SEDP who is working with the case.

Read the entire story.