Tag: Legislative Post Audit Division

Audit: West Virginia Child Protective Services Struggling To Handle Abuse And Neglect Cases

A legislative post audit reveals serious problems with abuse and neglect cases handled by West Virginia’s Child Protective Services. Lawmakers heard the findings of the audit Tuesday during a legislative interim committee meeting. 

According to the audit, Child Protective Services workers fail to appropriately respond to reported cases of child abuse and neglect. 

State law dictates that an initial interview with the child be conducted within 14 days of abuse and neglect cases being reported. But, based on data from federal fiscal year 2018, CPS workers met that deadline in only half of reported cases.

CPS staff cite not being able to track down the family due to missing or incorrect information, the family not being home when the social worker arrives, as well as staffing issues.

The audit also says that CPS does not have mechanisms in place to monitor the licensure status of social workers and does not conduct criminal background checks following an employee’s hiring.

Audit Says State Paid Too Much to Transport Dead

A new report says West Virginia’s chief medical examiner has been paying too much to transport the dead.

The Legislative Post Audit Division says the state sometimes paid vendors for taking bodies to wrong locations in addition to paying excessive mileage reimbursement and additional fees for transporting two or more bodies together.

According to the report released Monday, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner overpaid transporters $217,597 over five years.

The findings go to the Department of Health and Human Resources with a recommendation to request money back from overpaid vendors.

The legislative auditor also found some duplicate payments, as well as state reimbursements for “wait time at the scene” that are not allowed.

Spokeswoman Allison Adler says the department’s Bureau for Public Health will be exploring its options regarding the report.

Audit: West Virginia Corrections Salaries Worst in Nation

  A legislative audit says West Virginia has the lowest starting salaries for state correctional officers in the country.

On Monday, Kristina Taylor of the Legislative Post Audit Division relayed the low correctional pay marks to state lawmakers. The presentation followed a January report about correctional officer pay.

The starting salary for West Virginia’s entry-level correctional officers was less than $22,600.

It ranked lower than any other state, including those deemed to be in similar economic standing: Mississippi, Kentucky, South Carolina, New Mexico and Alabama.

The audit said Massachusetts had the highest entry-level starting pay for officers at almost $51,400 annually.

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.

Exit mobile version