Reports

This special report provides summary information and four interactive dashboards with Arizona school districts' and chart schools' reported spending in fiscal year 2022 and in total through June 30, 2022, and planned future spending of allocated/awarded COVID-19 federal relief monies as required by law. In total, districts and charters reported spending $2.2 billion, or almost half of their relief monies through June 30, 2022.

This special report provides summary information and four interactive dashboards with Arizona school districts’ and charter schools’ reported spending in FY 2022 and in total through June 30, 2022, and planned future spending of allocated/awarded COVID-19 federal relief monies, as required by Laws 2021, Ch. 408, §54. This special report also provides Arizona Department of Education-reported spending in FY 2022 and in total through June 30, 2022, and planned future spending of the discretionary COVID-19 federal relief monies that it received, as required by the law. This information is included...

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in upheaval to the economy and government services. Ulster County needed to address the questions of people and organizations during the pandemic as it related to public health concerns. To address public questions and concerns, Ulster County established a COVID hotline. Despite allocating significant resources to promotion and widening the scope of the Service Center, it still receives few calls. The call volume does not seem to align with the staffing and additional resources being allocated to operate a separate unit of government. This downtime could...

Our audit sought to determine if unemployment claims filed in the name of Ulster County employees were handled in accordance with current law and Ulster County policy. Our audit revealed that the Personnel Department properly identified fraudulent unemployment claims and challenged those claims. In addition, the Personnel Department staff appropriately notified the Sheriff’s Department and the Information Systems Department about the potential unemployment insurance fraud. However, it appears that some employees may not have been notified by the Personnel Department that they were the victims...

Since March 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and through September 2022, the federal government has allocated through various acts $77.8 billion to the State of Arizona and its local governments, businesses, and individuals for COVID-19 response and relief efforts. This special COVID-19 funding report presents information on the amounts, intended purposes, and recipients of those allocations. It also presents the results of our audit of the allocated monies Arizona State government directly spent and distributed during fiscal year 2021.

This report is a summary of the costs related to responding to the pandemic that the Ulster County Comptroller’s Office was able to aggregate from existing reported financial and personnel data for 2020. The County continues to incur substantial costs in the current year 2021, many of which are offset by pandemic related revenue streams, such as the cost of operating vaccination clinics. We have reviewed the 2020 expenditures to assist in both improving the accounting for these costs and potentially identifying and obtaining revenues to offset these costs.

Based on our audit of the State’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, we reported internal control weaknesses and instances of noncompliance over financial reporting. For example, the Department of Economic Security did not put all critical identity-verification or other anti-fraud measures in place before paying federal CARES Act unemployment insurance benefits and reported it paid over $4 billion in fraudulent identity theft unemployment insurance benefits claims through September 4, 2021, when the benefits ended.

The Comptroller’s Office surveyed Ulster residents on potential uses of the American Rescue Plan funds. The survey was promoted on social media from March 24 through May 3, 2021, and in electronic newsletters to the Comptroller’s Office distribution lists. Two hundred and twelve people responded. Respondents were provided with 14 potential options for the use of funds and asked to grade each on a score of 1 to 10.

As a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, State Medicaid programs have expanded options for telehealth services. Rapid expansion of telehealth may pose challenges for State agencies and providers, including State oversight of these services. Our objective is to determine whether State agencies and providers complied with Federal and State requirements for telehealth services under the national emergency declaration, and whether the States gave providers adequate guidance on telehealth requirements.

Title IV-E of the Social Security Act (the Act), as amended, authorizes the Federal Foster Care Program, which helps provide safe and stable out-of-home care for children until the children are safely returned home, placed permanently with adoptive families, or placed in other planned arrangements for permanency. Title IV-B of the Act authorizes Federal funding to States to promote flexibility in the development and expansion of coordinated child and family services programs. In response to COVID-19, on April 15, 2020, the Children's Bureau the operating division of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) that administers the Title IV-B and Title IV-E programs at the Federal level—provided flexibility to State Title IV-E agencies related to (1) fingerprint-based criminal record checks requirements for prospective foster parents (allowing for name-based checks until fingerprint-based checks can safely be done), and (2) caseworker visit requirements (allowing videoconferencing visits to count toward the requirement that 50 percent of visits must occur in the child's home). On April 27, 2020, the Children's Bureau reminded States of additional flexibilities afforded by the Statute, including the authority to modify foster family licensing standards as long as the standards are applied to all of these placements in accordance with the requirements of the Statute. Additionally, States have the authority to set their own foster care maintenance payment rates including, at their own discretion, enhancing those rates for children who test positive for COVID-19.

We intend to survey all States and identify the States that adopted any new licensing regulations or policies and procedures as a result of the existing flexibilities in the Statute and the waivers provided by ACF. Based on the information gathered, we plan to identify three States and conduct separate audits to ensure foster care providers are safeguarding the health and safety of children during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify any vulnerabilities or gaps in policies or procedures that could place these children at risk. As part of these audits, we would ensure that criminal record checks for foster parents conducted via name-based checks were ultimately conducted through fingerprints whenever determined safe to do so.