Wood
RALEIGH – The NC Auditor said the vast majority of the $ 3.6 billion in COVID-19 aid the state received from the federal government had been distributed with limited surveillance and control.
Beth Wood’s office, chartered accountant, released a report Thursday saying the NC Pandemic Recovery Office of the Office of State Budget and Management needs to improve its aid distribution procedures. The auditors found that $ 3.1 billion of the money was distributed without the bureau ensuring that all recipients had some method of measuring the results.
“As a result, there was an increased risk that the beneficiaries could have misused the funds without the misuse being identified and corrected in a timely manner,” wrote the examiner. “In addition, NCPRO had only limited ability to know whether the funds were achieving the results required by law and to take corrective measures in good time if necessary.”
The General Assembly of the State passed the 2020 COVID-19 Recovery Act on May 4, 2020, which established the Coronavirus Relief Fund. The law commissioned the OSBM to set up the NCPRO to distribute federal aid money. Government received $ 1.67 billion, education $ 524 million, nonprofits $ 341 million, local government $ 317 million, hospitals $ 102 million; and $ 645 million was used to offset general government fund expenses.
The auditors found that NCPRO did not independently verify the recipients’ expenses by comparing receipts such as bills and receipts with the expenses reported by the recipients until November, after most of the money had already been spent.
In addition, by October, auditors tested all Recovery Act payouts to 490 recipients and found that 9% did not report what they were up to with the funds, 68% stated goals but no goals for how they would achieve those goals. and 39% failed to measure their progress towards their goals.
Wood’s office said NCPRO should conduct an independent review of recipients’ self-reported spending to ensure the money is being spent in accordance with the Restoration Act. NCPRO should also develop procedures to ensure that beneficiaries develop goals for how the money is used and ways to measure progress in achieving those goals.
NCPRO informed the auditors that it had not ensured that all beneficiaries had a method of measuring results as it chose to prioritize the coordination and distribution of funds and instead provide technical assistance to the beneficiaries. The change in Treasury’s guidelines on the permitted uses of the money also delayed the development of guidelines, the office said.
In their response to the audit report, Charles Perusse, Director of the State Budget, and Stephanie McGarrah, Executive Director of the NCPRO wrote: “We take the findings presented in this report very seriously and have already started making changes to address them and ensure the North That Carolina Pandemic Recovery Office will be well equipped to handle the additional federal recovery funds the state will receive to help it recover from the pandemic. “
