Tag: Legislative Audit

Legislators Address Problems at WVU-Parkersburg

Officials with West Virginia University at Parkersburg have taken responsibility for problems found in a Legislative Audit report regarding purchasing practices and bidding procedures, and have assured lawmakers the problems have been handled.

The News and Sentinel of Parkersburg reports university officials were in Charleston on Monday to address the audit report to the legislative oversight committee.

Legislative Auditor’s Office analyst Jordan Reed says between 2011 and 2014, the university violated competitive bidding procedures in three instances, stringing purchase card transactions together over a short period of time.

University President Fletcher Lamkin told the committee that Chief Financial Officer Alice Harris has implemented steps to address the problems. He apologized for how some of the bidding was done, and said the purchases were likely strung together to quicken the process.

Legislative Audit Questions Ethics of Hatfield McCoy Recreation Authority

An audit says the Hatfield McCoy Recreation Authority isn’t following state purchasing, ethics and employee bonus laws.

Legislative Auditor Aaron Allred says the the authority is operating like some laws don’t apply to it, according to a letter written Tuesday.

The letter says the authority should be complying with the competitive bid process, contract reviews by the attorney general and other purchasing requirements.

The auditor wrote that authority board members are subject to the state Ethics Act, which prohibits self-dealing and personal gain from public office.

The letter references $1.3 million in leases, insurance policies, labor, catering and other contracts that benefited board members, the executive director or family.

It says the authority’s employees or contractors can’t receive bonuses.

The Post Audit Division is still reviewing the authority’s financials.
 

Audit: W.Va. at Risk of Losing Medicaid Funds

  Legislative auditors say West Virginia is at risk of losing millions of dollars in federal Medicaid funding because state hasn’t complied with a 2011 directive.
 
The directive requires states to suspend Medicaid payments to health care providers if fraud allegations are determined to be credible.
 
A legislative audit says Medicaid has paid at least $17.9 million to providers whose cases were referred to the state’s Medicaid Fraud Unit. The payments could be as a high as $211 million.

 
 The audit was released Tuesday during legislative interim meetings.
 
Bureau for Medical Services counsel Alva Page told lawmakers that the bureau and auditors have different interpretations of the applicable portion of the Affordable Care Act.
 

West Virginia Owed More Than $715 Million in Unpaid Taxes

An audit of the West Virginia Tax Department has found that the state is owed more than $715 million in taxes.

The legislative audit released Tuesday says that out of $715.7 million, $298.3 million owed in about 139,000 tax accounts is collectable. The totals are as of December 2013.

The largest bucket of collectable taxes the state hasn’t received was $104.7 million in personal income tax. The second was $83.9 million in sales tax.

The audit by Legislative Post Audit Division director Denny Rhodes says the department lacks adequate policies and procedures to ensure taxes are collected.

Tax Commissioner Mark Matkovich said the owed taxes include accounts that skew the numbers, like dead taxpayers.

The Tax Department responded that it would seek improvements to eliminate causes of the findings.

Audit: Former Attorney General Spent $54K on Employee Tuition

An audit says former Attorney General Darrell McGraw’s office reimbursed more than $54,000 for employee education without paying appropriate federal taxes.

The legislative audit released Tuesday says McGraw’s administration spent almost $21,000 for one employee’s out-of-state graduate classes in less than three months. Another employee was reimbursed about $26,500 over two years.

The most recent was reimbursed $6,700 in fiscal year 2012 for in-state university studies.

The assistance dated back to 1999. Payments went unreported on employee W-2 forms back through 2004, possibly earlier.

The audit covers July 2011 to January 2013.

The audit says no written, established educational assistance program existed.

McGraw says he is unfamiliar with the audit.

Current Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says his office doesn’t cover employee tuition. Morrisey defeated five-term Democrat McGraw in 2012.

Audit Finds Mismangement of Agriculture Department's Loan Program

The results of a preliminary legislative audit have found evidence of mismanagement of a $5 million revolving loan program administered by the West…

The results of a preliminary legislative audit have found evidence of mismanagement of a $5 million revolving loan program administered by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.

The Charleston Gazette reports that auditors found that 25 of 40 outstanding Rural Rehabilitation Loan Program loans are delinquent. Moreover, in nearly half the loans audited, there was no evidence of any effort to collect on delinquent loans.
 
The audit also found evidence of potential conflicts of interest between the former commissioner of Agriculture, Gus Douglass, and either the loan committee or loan recipients.

The audit did not elaborate on the conflicts or identify the loan recipients.
 
Currently, the fund has about $1 million, with about $4 million in loans outstanding.

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