released today finds that several state agencies in Missouri have not adequately kept track of how federal stimulus dollars are being spent.
The state has spent about $2.6 billion in money received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
(R) says much of that money went to state agencies that oversee K-12 schools, higher education and Medicaid.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not saying they didn鈥檛 spend the money right," Schweich said. "What we鈥檙e saying is that they didn鈥檛 monitor the spending of the money so we could determine whether it was correctly spent."
Schweich says the monitoring system used by the(DESE) is inadequate because it examines monies received during the prior school year, not the current.
But DESE officials disagree, saying their reporting system meets federal guidelines. Dr. Ron Lankford is the agency's Deputy Commissioner for Finance and Administrative Service.
鈥淭o audit after the fact is historically what audits are about," Lankford said. "Unless there鈥檚 been a call for a special audit, everybody audits after the fact, and that鈥檚 what we have done with federal monies since the inception of federal monies.鈥�
The audit also found that some child care payments went to non-eligible recipients, and that state Health officials failed to conduct annual reassessments for some Medicaid recipients. officials have not responded to a request for comments.
Original Story:
Will be updated with comments from Auditor Schweich
A of the money Missouri received from the federal government in fiscal year 2010 has found that some state departments are doing a poor job overseeing those dollars.
Findings of the so-called, released today by Republican Tom Schweich, include:
- The state did not monitor money it received under the federal stimulus act. DESE was also one of several departments that did not have a way to make sure it was submitting required federal reports on time.
- The did not make sure that child care payments were going to eligible clients, or that charges to the state's cash assistance program were appropriate. The audit also found a problem with money DSS's division (the state's Medicaid program) spent without federal approval.
- The also had problems with inaccurate recordkeeping
The state spent about $14.8 billion in federal awards during FY2010, $2.6 billion of which came from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The single audit reviews major programs that accounted for about $13.5 billion of that total.
