[nfbmi-talk] freep article on mrs audit

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Audit cites questionable expenditures at state agency that helps disabled people

 

list end

Paul Egan

 

By

Paul Egan

 

Detroit Free Press Lansing Staff

 

 

LANSING -- A state agency that helps disabled people find jobs made many questionable expenditures, including buying a $31,000 vehicle for a woman who only

wanted to be a homemaker and didn't need a car for work, a state audit released Wednesday found.

 

The head of Michigan Rehabilitation Services said that she's taking steps to correct weak financial controls that led to questionable spending.

 

"We've initiated actions even before the report was released," said Jaye Porter, director of Michigan Rehabilitation Services in the Department of Licensing

and Regulatory Affairs. She said the agency, which spent $113.6 million to serve about 51,000 disabled people in 2009-10, has reviewed and clarified policies

and stepped up staff training.

 

Auditor General Thomas McTavish said the agency failed to show public funds were properly spent and failed to recover expensive equipment from people with

physical or mental disabilities who left the program and no longer needed it. Other spending cited in the audit included:

 

• $4,685 on relocation expenses for a client after the client's new employer said it would reimburse the client for relocation costs.

 

• Buying a new vehicle with modifications for disabled people for $68,000 after the dealer said a used vehicle with the needed modifications would cost

$51,185.

 

• Spent $2,589 on a laptop computer for a client who wanted to become a film director, then failed to recover the laptop after the client changed the employment

goal to housekeeping.

 

• Paid $5,080 for gas, food, clothing and household bills to a client already employed full-time. The agency also gave the client $120 to help expunge the

client's criminal record.

 

• Paid $2,481 for mileage, lodging and food costs for another client who was employed full-time. The agency also spent $216 for travel costs that the client

"incurred while traveling to a job interview, after the ... (employment) goal was achieved."

 

• Spent $3,852 for a riding lawn mower, push lawn mower, snow blade, snowblower and power tools for a client to work as a grounds maintenance worker before

asking whether the apartment complex that hired the client would provide the equipment, as the auditor noted employers typically do.

 

• Paid $450 in court costs for a client at risk of going to jail for three months if the costs were not paid.

 

• Failed to get receipts for expenditures totaling more than $100,000.

 

• Paid three checks totaling $1,200 to a client to buy a vehicle but failing to document that the vehicle was purchased.

 

• Spent more than $1 million on services to clients without first determining their legal identity and Social Security documents were in order.

 

In many cases, the agency did its job but didn't document it, Porter said. She said she's pleased overall that the auditor found the program was effective

in providing services that result in viable and sustainable employment.

 

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or

pegan at freepress.com

 

 

Source:

 

http://www.freep.com/article/20120112/NEWS06/201120591/Audit-cites-questionable-expenditures-at-state-agency-that-helps-disabled-people