DOJ audit finds 22 errors in grant use by Nevada agency

Nevada health officials said Wednesday they are fixing widespread problems with how the state distributed millions of dollars in federal crime victim assistance grants, errors that were uncovered in a U.S. Department of Justice audit this week.

“We have an aggressive action plan that addresses each line in the audit,” said Kelly Woodridge, administrator for Nevada’s Division of Child and Family Services, who took over the role in early 2016. “We were already working on many of these before the audit.”

The audit released on Monday analyzed $45.6 million in federal grants Nevada received from 2012 to 2016. The state must distribute most of the funding to organizations that work directly with crime victims, such as as rape treatment centers, domestic violence shelters and centers for missing children. About 51 groups receive grant funding, Woodridge said.

According to the grant guidelines, priority must be given to victims of sexual assault, domestic abuse and child abuse.

The DOJ audit also found the state “made an error” by doling out more than $4 million to crime victims’ organizations because Nevada awarded the grants based on funds expected to be received — not what it actually got.

That resulted in overpaying or underpaying some organizations, the audit said, and some providers “erroneously” being awarded money twice in 2016.

“In total, the (Nevada Department of Health and Human Services) stated it erroneously awarded approximately $4 million to subrecipients in excess of the amount it received at the time of the subawards,” the audit said, adding that the department lacked adequate documentation to show how it selected organizations to receive $1.87 million in grants.

Woodridge said the excess amounts were “awarded” but not actually paid out. Starting in 2017, she said, the state began awarding grants one year at a time — instead of three years — to avoid using estimated amounts.

Another looming question is how Nevada used grant funding for its own staff and administrative costs. The grant guidelines allow using up to 5 percent for such costs — but the state exceeded that amount in 2015. The U.S. Department of Justice questioned $138,975 in administrative expenditures.

Nevada officials have accepted 21 of 22 recommendations to fix the errors, including awarding funds based on actual amounts received, submitting annual performance reports and establishing a well-documented competitive process for awarding the grants.

But the state did not agree with the questionable administrative costs. Woodridge said the state overspent on administrative costs in 2015, but could have rolled it over to 2016.

“We didn’t notice it or get permission to roll it over,” she said.

The state’s Department of Health and Human Services also launched new training and monitoring programs for both state officials and the federal grant recipients.

Nevada is not at risk of losing finding for crime victim assistance programs, Woodridge said, but the audit places the state in a “high-risk category” — which could mean more audits in the future.

Contact Ramona Giwargis at rgiwargis@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4538. Follow @RamonaGiwargis on Twitter.