[NFBMT] From the great Falls Tribune

Fri Jan 5 16:36:28 UTC 2018

Thanks for passing this along, Joy.  I saw it when it came out.  It
surprised me because I had no idea the Legislative Auditors found a problem
with how I was paid.  I expect that the Auditors will soon focus on the over
spending in the VR program, though.

Out of curiosity, what do you make of it?  I see that DPHHS should not have
used federal funding for my pay while on administrative leave.  I also see
charges of mismanagement.  There will be more coming out into the public eye
regarding the mismanagement.  I've written an article for the Braille
Monitor, but I'm not sure I will send it in at this point.  I am very
conflicted over complying with my settlement and telling my side of the
story.  I do not want to get anything out of it or to hurt a soul, but the
DPHHS leaders almost certainly will use my former supervisor and me as
scapegoats.  Like you know, I acknowledge full responsibility for going over
budget in FFY 2016, but after that, the DPHHS fiscal folks and directors are
to blame because they would not let me implement the Order of Selection
fully.  Their six-month delay is the reason the program is so deep
underwater.  I will not accept the blame for actions made by others.
Perhaps it will just go away, though, and we can all move on.

Best!

Jim Marks
Blind.grizzly at gmail.com
(406) 438-1421

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMT [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of BRUCE&JOY
BRESLAUER via NFBMT
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2018 11:36 PM
To: bruce&Joy <breslauerj at gmail.com>
Cc: BRUCE&JOY BRESLAUER <breslauerj at gmail.com>; marjorie
<dmgregg at 3rivers.net>; nfbmt <nfbmt at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [NFBMT] From the great Falls Tribune

Great Falls Tribune

Audit faults Montana department for $58,270 of inappropriate staff leave pay
Dec. 26, 2017

HELENA - The Department of Public Health and Human Services was criticized
in a recent audit for inappropriately using $58,270 in federal funds to pay
the salaries of staff on long-term administrative leave.

Two employees have been on administrative leave since July pending an
investigation of the Vocational Rehabilitation Department. Officials,
according to the report by the Legislative Audit Division, believe the
program was mismanaged as it recorded $4.6 million in costs to the federal
program when no other federal funds were available.

The audit identified more than $1 million in questioned costs of a probable
violation of federal regulations.

The audit was discussed at the Dec. 13 meeting of the Legislative Audit
Committee and lawmakers were told by DPHHS Director Sheila Hogan that both
employees plan to retire.

However, the report noted that as of mid-October the employees, who were not
named, continued to be paid partially with federal funds and their status
had not changed.

DPHHS staff defended their actions in a Nov. 22 response to the audit.
"Administrative leave is a normal and reasonable charge, especially in a
heavily unionized organization," it wrote.

Hogan's comment about the possible retirements came after questioning from
Sen. Dee Brown, R-Hungry Horse, who asked if the employees had been fired

"Are they sitting at home watching audit committee reports?" she asked.
"What is going on with these individuals that we are paying them to not be
productive?"

When told about possible retirement, Brown asked "Will they charge that to
the federal government too?"

Hogan said that would likely occur through public employee retirement funds.

The audit report recommended DPHHS quit using the federal funds to pay the
salaries.

Officials said questions about the funding came from within a state
government department.

The audit, which was presented to the committee by Legislative Audit
Division staff member Alexa O'Dell, noted the department found other funding
authority by the end of the fiscal year and moved the costs to the General
Fund.

>From mid-October to July nearly $58,270 was charged to the federal program
because no changes were made as to how the employees' payroll was processed,
the audit found.

Auditors noted that federal regulations allowed for federal funds to be used
if they are necessary to perform the federal award. However, there is no
benefit for the program to pay the staff on administrative leave as the
program has been paying other staff since July to administer the program.

"As such, we do not consider long-term administrative leave to be necessary
for the program; therefore the costs associated with staff on administrative
leave are not an allowable use of federal funds," auditors wrote.

"We question an estimated $58,270 in Vocational Rehabilitation costs, the
amount charged to the program as of October 2017," auditors wrote.

DPHHS staff did not agree with the recommendation to quit using the federal
funds to pay for the staff administrative leave.

"Federal regulation allows for the allocation of these costs, including
periods of authorized absences from the job, such as for annual leave,
family-related leave, sick leave, holidays, court leave, military leave and
administrative leave."

Throughout the Dec. 13 audit committee discussion, Sen. Bob Keenan,
R-Bigfork, repeatedly asked about internal controls within DPHHS. He said it
was a longtime problem.

He asked for someone to point out to him on the agency's organizational
chart where the internal controls were listed.

Hogan said there were 3.5 internal control auditors for the department's
3,000 employees, and said it was everyone's responsibility.

She said it was part of her "hit by the bus test" in which if someone did
not show up for work that someone else could see it through.

"It's not one person's responsibility," she said. 

The audit was of 10 department programs with federal expenditures ranging
from $4.4 million to $2.4 billion for two fiscal years that ended June 30.

It noted that DPHHS has spent nearly $3.5 billion in federal funds and that
15 of about 120 federal programs administered by the department comprised 95
percent of that total. Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program made up about 80 percent of that.

Benefits and claims expenditures were $4 billion, which is $1 billion more
than the previous biennium. This was due mostly to an increased Medicaid
caseload and expansion under the Affordable Care Act, the audit noted.

In all, the audit made 13 recommendations for improvements. DPHHS agreed
with
11 of them. It disagreed not only with the Vocational Rehabilitation
recommendation but also with a suggestion to comply with state and federal
laws by following state policies to get services for the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families and Foster Care program.

The auditors noted that it selected 20 Medicaid providers from a list of
1,000 to see if agreements and required disclosures existed and DPHHS was
unable to provide that information for 12 of the 20.

"Because the department could not readily produce the provider agreements
when initially requested, it is possible this information does not exist for
all providers," auditors wrote. "This means there is risk providers are
improperly receiving payment for services provided under the Medicaid
program."

It noted that had the department not been able to provide the agreements, it
would have resulted in $6.8 million in questioned costs to the Medicaid
program.

DPHHS disagreed with the recommendation and said many of the services were
for health care and were exempted and not subject to the Montana Procurement
Act. Officials also said their procurement of services through TANF followed
state and federal law. 

Keenan asked if the state should be digging deeper, given that it had
problems confirming the adequacies of the agreements.

O'Dell said there would be another opportunity in two years to do more
testing.

The audit report is online at http://bit.ly/2pAErvU

Joy Breslauer, President

National Federation of the Blind of Montana 

Web Site: http://www.nfbofmt.org <http://www.nfbofmt.org/> 

Live the life you want

The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends
who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation's blind. Every day we work
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