CHEMUNG COUNTY TREASURER

2023-001 - Low-Income Home Energy Assistance - Assistance Listing No. 93.568; Grant Period - For the year ended December 31, 2023 Condition: Eligibility was not correctly determined for 1 of 40 case files selected for testing. Criteria: The County should have procedures in place for eligibility determination to allow for proper eligibility determination by all caseworkers. Cause: The eligibility determination process did not operate properly which resulted in 1 of 40 case files to be determined ineligible for Low-Income Home Energy Assistance funds when in fact they were eligible. Effect of Condition: The County denied benefits from this case when this case should have been approved for benefits during the application process. Questioned Cost: None. Statistical Sampling: The sample was not intended to be, and was not, a statistically valid sample. Recommendation: We recommend the County review the procedures in place for eligibility determination and provide the necessary training to all caseworker to ensure eligibility is properly determined going forward.

2021-001 - Federal Transit Cluster - Federal Transit - Formula Grants - Assistance Listing No. 20.507; Grant No. NY-2020-027 and Grant No. NY-2020-034; Grant Period - For the year ended December 31, 2021 Condition: The subrecipient monitoring activities performed were not adequately documented and were not consistent with the risk assessment performed by the County. Criteria: The County should have procedures in place to monitor subrecipients to ensure federal funding is spent in accordance with federal guidelines. Cause: The County performed a risk assessment of the subrecipient monitoring agreement with the Federal Transit Formula Grant. Based on the risk assessment it was determined that a desk review should be performed on an annual basis by the County over the subrecipient. This desk monitoring should be fully documented and consist of the following: 1. A review of program and financial reports for accuracy. 2. A comparison of financial reports against projected spending rates. 3. A comparison of the cumulative counts of clients and units delivered against those projected. 4. Unit cost comparisons when applicable. 5. Comparison of projected service levels with units of service provided. 6. Comparison of project budget with actual expenditures. 7. A review of financial and performance reports required by the pass-through entity. 8. Following-up and ensuring that the subrecipient takes timely and appropriate action on all deficiencies pertaining to the Federal award provided to the subrecipient from the pass-through entity detected through audits, on-site reviews, and other means, if applicable. 9. Issuing a management decision for audit findings pertaining to the federal award provided to the subrecipient from the pass- through, if applicable. Monthly meetings did occur between the County and the subrecipient to perform grant oversight. A complete desk review as described above was not fully performed or documented. The subrecipient provided quarterly expenditure reporting to the County whereby a review by the County was conducted; however clear documentation of this review was not available. Effect: Subrecipient monitoring of the Federal Transit Formula Grant was not completed as described by the County's risk assessment. Recommendation: We recommend the County's current risk assessment of the subrecipient be reviewed and revised as appropriate. We recommend this risk assessment be strictly followed going forward and that all parties involved in the federal program be trained on the requirements. This review should be systematic and fully documented in order to substantiate the steps taken. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: Management Response: County management understands and concurs with the condition finding related to Federal Transit Cluster and notes that the underlying cause was ongoing turnover of key personnel involved with the transit operation contract with First Transit and also subrecipient monitoring. We note that while there was some monitoring performed via the monthly meetings, there was not complete desk review in accordance with the subrecipient risk assessment. Planned Corrective Action: The Transit Contract Manager will immediately review and revise the Subrecipient Risk Assessment for First Transit federal funds, and subsequently implement the required review process and ensure that it is strictly followed going forward. We expect these measures to be implemented in 2022 such that adequate Subrecipient Monitoring is completed in 2022. To ensure compliance, the Director of the Elmira-Chemung Transportation Council will require submission of the Subrecipient Monitoring Report and will review each report with the Transit Contract Manager to determine any relevant action items. The Director of the Elmira-Chemung Transportation Council will arrange for the development of periodic training of all parties involved in the Subrecipient Risk Assessment and Monitoring Plan requirements to ensure continued compliance and continuity in the event of future staff turnover. We also expect the training plan to be developed in 2022 and fully implemented within 12 months.

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