[nfbmi-talk] state audit blasts or commission

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State audit blasts Commission for the Blind | Statesman Journal | statesmanjournal.com

 

Written by

 

Dennis Thompson Jr.

 

Statesman Journal

 

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Past audit criticism

 

The Secretary of State's report on the Oregon Commission for the Blind listed a number of past audits that contained similar criticisms of the agency. These

include:

 

1995: An audit report issued by the Audits Division concluded that the agency wasted $1.75 million and failed to properly manage public money and assets

entrusted to it.

 

2000: An audit report issued by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee found that agency expenditures were questionable and that the commission exercised

virtually no fiscal oversight.

 

2001: An audit report issued by the Audits Division noted a lack of controls over personal service contracts and invoice payments.

 

2009: An audit report by the Audits Division disclosed problems similar to those reported in previous audits of the agency. Areas of concern included the

use of public funds for nonclients, management oversight to ensure that funds are spent according to applicable regulations, ensuring that competitive

pricing is obtained, planning business ventures to ensure client success, ensuring that expenditures are necessary and reasonable, and protecting assets.

As a result, the audit questioned whether $1.46 million of public funds were spent prudently or lawfully.

 

More

 

State auditors are hammering the Oregon Commission for the Blind for a "continued pattern of fiscal irresponsibility" that has lasted for 16 years despite

repeated calls for reform.

 

In a report issued Wednesday, Secretary of State auditors criticized the commission for failure to tighten lax oversight of its finances and operations

as recommended in a 2009 audit.

 

The report tied the lack of progress to a string of financial problems that have been raised by a series of state audits dating back to 1995.

 

"They are clearly struggling to implement our recommendations," Secretary of State Kate Brown said Wednesday after the report's release.

 

The Oregon Commission for the Blind operates on a $16 million budget, with 9 percent coming from the state's general fund and the rest supplied by federal

grants and other donations. The agency is charged with assisting Oregonians who are blind or visually impaired.

 

Commission administrator Linda Mock said her agency will take steps to fix problems raised by the report.

 

However, she added that the procedures recommended by the Secretary of State auditors have proved to be hard to implement in her small, cash-strapped agency.

 

"We are interested in making more progress," Mock said. "We will continue to work on that. But we need to balance that with our mission and make sure we

are best serving the more than 1,500 Oregonians who seek our assistance each year."

 

The follow-up review found that the commission had instituted new internal controls to oversee how money is spent but did not consistently follow the new

rules. For example:

 

-Necessary paperwork to track funding for special events had not been properly completed in a number of instances, including $3,500 for sponsorship of three

dragon boat race teams and $3,100 for a living-with-blindness seminar.

 

-Complete documentation had not been filed for employees who telecommute, and two employees had been improperly reimbursed a total of $334 for their home

Internet costs.

 

-Employees spent $7,500 on groceries for cooking classes and $2,043 on wood-shop supplies without keeping paperwork to justify the expenses.

(Page 2 of 2)

 

-Cellphone use is not being reviewed or analyzed, leading auditors to question the appropriateness of nearly half the $27,337 in cellphone expenses reported

from July 2010 through April 2011.

 

The auditors linked these continuing problems to a string of past audit reports that have criticized the way the commission does business. Audits in 1995,

2000, 2001 and 2009 consistently have found fault with the agency's business practices, the report released Wednesday said.

 

The report singled out the commission's Business Enterprise Program as being particularly slow to adopt recommended financial practices.

 

The program is meant to provide business opportunities for the legally blind by granting them franchises to operate vending and cafeteria programs in public

buildings throughout Oregon.

 

The new report found that the Business Enterprise Program:

 

-Failed to properly implement contracting procedures for its vending machine program.

 

-Could not provide a copy of a $4,999 contract with a consultant who was hired to assess the program.

 

-Dropped the ball on an opportunity to develop a blind-operated cafeteria in a state building, instead allowing a local private restaurant to begin operating

at the location.

 

-Did not develop an adequate tracking system for the income generated by the blind vending and cafeteria managers.

 

The director of the Business Enterprise Program, Walter Reyes, has been on administrative leave since Aug. 1 as a result of the auditors' follow-up work,

Mock said. A Department of Justice investigation of Reyes is ongoing.

 

Mock did not dispute the report's findings but said she thought the auditors had not taken into consideration the challenges faced by her agency.

 

"I think it's not a balanced view of the agency," she said. "It's looking at it from a compliance perspective and not from our mission and what we have

the resources to do and how you balance those things."

 

Brown disagreed with this assertion.

 

"We expect that there be accountability, transparency and good fiscal management at all state agencies regardless of their size," she said. "We are all

struggling to do more with less, but good fiscal management is important regardless of size."

 

Brown said that money saved by proper financial controls could be directed toward helping more blind Oregonians than are receiving assistance today.

 

"We want to make sure that all Oregonians that rely on these services and qualify for these services have their needs met," she said. "When there's poor

oversight and poor accountability, some folks are not getting the services they need."

 

dmthomps at StatesmanJournal.com,

(503) 399-6719, Twitter.com/DMThompsonJr or Facebook.com/OregonStateWorkers

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