Town of Dudley, Massachusetts

inding 2024-001 Other Matter – U.S. Department of Treasury – Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds – (Federal Assistance Listing Number 21.027) – Reporting Criteria: Recipients of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds are required to file Project and Expenditure Reports on a regular, recurring basis. For local governments that are in the tier which the Town of Dudley is in, the reporting is required annually as of the end of March each year. The Project and Expenditure Reports require information to be reported on financial data, projects funded, expenditures, and contracts and subawards over $50,000, and other information. The financial data and expenditures reported should reflect the financial activity and expenditures on the municipal general ledger. Condition: The Town of Dudley did submit a Project and Expenditure Report as of March 2024. The Town used all of the funds awarded of $3,519,030.12 as Revenue Loss, as allowed in the requirements of the program. The report has a detailed narrative of how the Revenue Loss funds were applied to various budget line items in Fiscal Year 2022 and Fiscal Year 2023. However, on the last page of the report, the Town reported zero dollars in obligations and zero dollars in expenditures as of March 2024, when the amount of $3,519,030.12 should have been reported as total obligations, total expenditures, and total budget. This is a repeat of prior year findings 2022-001 and 2023-001. Cause: This condition may have been a result of an oversight error by the preparer of the report. Effect: The amount of total obligations and the amount of total expenditures on the Project and Expenditure Report is misstated. Failure to report the correct amount of expenditures may result in a request by the Federal government to return the funds when they were all expended. Questioned Costs: None. Recommendation: The person preparing the Project and Expenditure Report should report the total amount as budgeted, obligated, and expended in the Overview section on the last page on the next annual Project and Expenditure Report, which is due in April, 2025. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: In preparing and submitting the 2022 and 2023 Project and Expenditure Reports, the preparer was not aware that the town was required to obligate and report the obligations to the Treasury though a two-step process which included entering specific projects in the Treasury reporting portal. 12 TOWN OF DUDLEY, MASSACHUSETTS SUMMARY SCHEDULE OF PRIOR AUDIT FINDINGS FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2024 Finding 2023-001 Non-Compliance/Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance – U.S. Department o

The Overview page of the SLFRF COMPLIANCE REPORT MA0080 P&E REPORT 2023 was left blank, as we did not know that it had to be completed, as the Town reported a revenue loss.

Finding 2022-001 Non-Compliance/Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance ? U.S. Department of Treasury ? Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds ? (Federal Assistance Listing Number 21.027) ? Reporting Criteria: Recipients of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds are required to file Project and Expenditure Reports on a regular, recurring basis. For local governments that are in the tier which the Town of Dudley is in, the reporting is required annually as of the end of March each year. The Project and Expenditure Reports require information to be reported on financial data, projects funded, expenditures, and contracts and subawards over $50,000, and other information. The financial data and expenditures reported should reflect the financial activity and expenditures on the municipal general ledger. Condition: The Town of Dudley did submit a Project and Expenditure Report as of March 2022. However, the Town reported zero dollars in obligations and zero dollars in expenditures as of March 2022. The Town had charged $386,405.65 in bills and payrolls as of March 31, 2022, under the category of providing government services under revenue loss, as reflected on the Town?s general ledger. Cause: The person completing the report did not reconcile the reported expenditures to the Town Accountant?s records. Effect: The amount of total obligations and the amount of total expenditures on the Project and Expenditure Report is misstated by the amount of funds that were actually expended as of the date of the report. Questioned Costs: None. Recommendation: The person preparing the Project and Expenditure Report should reconcile the expenditures reported to the Town Accountant?s general ledger. The amounts expended and not reported should be included on the next annual Project and Expenditure Report. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Action: The Town agrees with the finding, and we have implemented procedures to correct the issue. At the time of the reported finding, reporting guidance was unclear and it had not yet been determined whether the Town qualified for a revenue loss which resulted in the error. The corrective action will be to report the additional expenditure that occurred prior to Town declaring a revenue loss at the time of the next reporting cycle. This corrective action will satisfy the criteria of recipients being required to report information on financial data, projects funded, expenditures, and contracts and subawards over $50,000, and other information. The financial data and expenditures reported will then reflect the financial activity and expenditures on the municipal general ledger.