MADISON – The Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) released its Single Audit (report 23-4), a federally-required annual audit that evaluated state agencies’ administration of $20.2 billion in federal financial assistance during fiscal year 2021-22.
In response to this report, Joint Legislative Audit Co-chairs Senator Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay) and Representative Robert Wittke (R-Racine) wrote a letter (attached) to the Department of Health Services (DHS) advising them to take action to rectify $43 million owed to the state from the federal government through the Medical Assistance Program.
“It is concerning that we continue to see the same patterns from our state agencies.” said Wimberger. “Their lack of transparency and attention to detail, in the case of this audit, has resulted in millions of dollars of unclaimed federal dollars, over a million dollars in inappropriate spending and multiple grant rounds being awarded to potentially ineligible individuals. Wisconsinites deserve to know state programs are being administered correctly and this funding is being spent responsibly.”
Report 23-4 made 64 recommendations to improve the administration of federal programs and address deficiencies identified related to financial reporting. In those recommendations, the LAB questioned $1.3 million in costs state agencies inappropriately charged to federal funds, identified $43 million in additional federal funding the Department of Health Services should recover and issued for the second year in a row, a qualified opinion on the administration of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program.
“I’m struck by the realization that this audit found problems with agency processes – significant and qualified (the worst) problems – that means agencies failed several times to correct errors, find omissions, gather documentation and report appropriately hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.” said Wittke. “That’s a real concern to me and this confirms the oversight work of the Audit Bureau and the Committee is extremely important to Wisconsin taxpayers.”
In response to the submission of Report 23-4, the federal government will follow-up with state agencies to address LAB’s findings. Copies of LAB’s report may be obtained from its website at www.legis.wisconsin.gov/lab or by calling (608) 266-2818. To report concerns related to state government activities, call LAB’s toll-free hotline at 1-877-FRAUD-17.
