News

Audit examines state spending

UW campuses on track, but bureau makes 35 recommendations to improve this year

The audit released Thursday by the Legislative Audit Bureau found federal funds the state spent over the last fiscal year were spent correctly overall — but it highlighted various instances where Wisconsin did not fully comply with federal guidelines.

According to the report, the state government spent $10 billion in federal funds during the last fiscal year.

Among their findings of mishandlings of federal money, the audit found the University of Wisconsin-Madison, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Milwaukee did not seek financial aid reimbursements from the federal government quickly enough, costing the state $183,000 in interest.

UW is also eligible to claim $6.7 million in federal funds for financial aid reimbursement.

At the statewide level, LAB expressed concerns regarding Department of Workforce Development reimbursements of rehabilitation services, causing the DWD to collect an additional $227,167 in federal funds.

The audit also found a case of over-billing the federal government by $112,923 by UW-Milwaukee. The federal foster care program was charged twice for tuition payments on behalf of students seeking their master’s degree in social work who plan to work in public child welfare upon graduation.

The report also questioned billing practices by the Department of Administration that allowed the state to accumulate extra cash balances. As a result, $449,645 needs to be repaid to the federal government.

Overall, LAB included 35 recommendations related to state agencies’ administration of federal grant programs, in addition to providing suggestions to improve internal control of some of the agencies the bureau is concerned about.

The bureau questioned $669,799 in costs related to federal programs Wisconsin administered.

According to State Auditor Carolyn Stittleburg, the requirement is mandatory each year by federal regulation.

“We do this audit as a federal requirement. … The federal government will follow up and (the bureau) will then follow up during fiscal year ‘09 audit,” Stittleburg said.

Although the bureau does a variety of audits each year, they anticipate they will have to increase monitoring as the state receives increased federal funds as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Currently, however, there have been no official changes made to auditing regulation from the federal government, Stittleburg added.

In a statement by the Joint Committee of Audit Co-Chairs Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma, and Peter Barca, D-Racine, the lawmakers praised the audit for tracking how tax dollars and federal funds are spent throughout the state.

Several Republican members of the Joint Committee of Audit were not prepared to comment on the report.