Conservatively Speaking
State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents parts of four counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Walworth. Her Senate District 28 includes New Berlin, Franklin, Greendale, Hales Corners, Muskego, Waterford, Big Bend and parts of Greenfield, East Troy, and Mukwonago. Senator Lazich has been in the Legislature for more than a decade. She considers herself a tireless crusader for lower taxes, reduced spending and smaller government.
Audit completed on federal funding for Wisconsin
By Mary Lazich
Saturday, Jun 14 2008, 07:15 AM
Wisconsin’s highly-acclaimed nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) has released its annual Single Audit report that outlines federal funds awarded to the state. The Single Audit is generally considered critical in ensuring the effective use of taxpayer dollars, and helping maximize the State’s federal funding.
During fiscal year (FY) 2006-07, state agencies administered $9.6 billion in federal funding through more than 1,600 federal programs and grants that included 930 research and development grants awarded to the University of Wisconsin (UW) System.
The amount of federal funding administered by Wisconsin has changed very little since fiscal year 2002-03.
How is the money spent? According to the LAB:
“The Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS), the Department of Workforce Development (DWD), the UW System, the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) “administered 95 percent of the federal cash and noncash assistance the State expended in FY 2006-07. DHFS was responsible for the largest share: $3.8 billion, including $2.8 billion in federal funding for the Medicaid Cluster. The Medicaid Cluster includes Medical Assistance, the largest federal program administered by the State of Wisconsin. Additional state funding to support Medical Assistance totaled $1.9 billion in FY 2006-07.
Other federal programs administered by DHFS include the Food Stamp Cluster, the State Children’s Insurance Program, Foster Care—Title IV-E, and Adoption Assistance.
DWD administered $1.5 billion in federal financial assistance in FY 2006-07. DWD administers the Unemployment Insurance program, as well as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Child Care subsidy, and Vocational Rehabilitation programs.
UW System disbursed a total of $1.3 billion in federal funds, including $648.5 million in student financial aid and $512.9 million in research and development grants.
Most of the $729.8 million in federal funding administered by DOT supported the Highway Planning and Construction program, which had FY 2006-07 expenditures of $638.2 million.
DPI provided the majority of its $688.0 million in federal funding to local schools and other entities for education and child nutrition programs. Other state agencies disbursed another $461.2 million in federal funds during FY 2006-07.”
The audit concentrated on 22 programs that accounted for 69.9 percent of Wisconsin’s federal funding during FY 2006-07. Programs were selected for review based on their size and the risk of noncompliance with federal rules. The good news is the LAB determined that state agencies have properly administered federal grant programs and complied with federal requirements.
During FY 2007-08, the state did return $15.5 million to the federal government due to excess balances in an internal service fund administered by the Department of Administration. Excess balances are prohibited under federal grant rules.
Another concern was raised about food stamps issued to prison inmates. The LAB matched data on food stamp benefit recipients with data from the Department of Corrections and reviewed a group of 12 inmates that appeared most likely to have improperly received food stamp benefits. The LAB found that 10 of the 12 inmates did receive food stamps inappropriately received food stamp benefits while in prison. The recommendation from the LAB is that the state recover those benefit payments.
The Single Audit has 27 recommendations to improve the state’s administration of federal funding.
Here is the full audit report.
Once again, I commend the LAB for another outstanding and thorough review.
